Why were Greeks considered so great in middle age Europe?

I don't know if this belongs here or not, anyway

Why did the Europeans consider the Greeks to be so great? Was it because they were closed minded because of the Church or because they couldn't access other civilization knowledge?

Did the Europeans in the Middle Ages derive most of their knowledge from the Greeks or did they derive it from other like Egyptians or Romans or others we don't know about?

In all the books about middle age Europe I have read that the Europeans had great respect and trust in only Greeks, did I miss the other civilizations or did Europe forget them?

1. the greeks were the only other major civilization that the Europeans had encountered.

2. The greeks were years and years ahead of the Europeans intellectually, philosophically and politically.

3. The middle age europeans had their heads for far up their asses it took four hundred years for them to catch a glimpse of sunlight.

Do you want specifics?

DE

We are talking Middle Ages here correct?
If so.......
The Europeans or European nations acquired most of their knowledge of science, medicine, navigation, mathematics, physics, etc., from Greco-Arab culture.
The Arabs were quite advanced in all respects and had great abilities and love of transcribing and translating into Arabic, in the form of books and manuscripts, all the knowledge of Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Indian, Persian, Assyrians, Asbath, etc. In doing so, and with the infusion of Europeans, the knowledge was spread and shared.
All things were not learned though by the Europeans....
Example:
At the time of Columbus (ie: Spain/Portugal) European/Western sciences still believed the world was flat. Past and recent finds in the Arab controlled regions have proved that the Arabs knew the world was round........
Europeans and the Western world actually owes quite abit to the early Arab world in respect to the knowledge they gained during the pre-Middle Ages and Middle Ages.


regards
seekerof

[Edited on 21-11-2003 by Seekerof]

Quote: "Did the Europeans in the Middle Ages derive most of their knowledge from the Greeks or did they derive it from other like Egyptians or Romans or others we don't know about?

In all the books about middle age Europe I have read that the Europeans had great respect and trust in only Greeks, did I miss the other civilizations or did Europe forget them?"

Yeah what he said. Actually I believe it goes like this: Europeans -> Romans -> Greeks -> Egyptians -> Mesopotamians (The REAL ANCIENT WORLD) -> I am not even going to say "Atlanteans" too much Propaganda & Non-sense & Fogginess coming out of here!!!

Oh yeah - why are the Ancient Greeks so well respected? Who else so-thoroughly Mixed Paganism with Judaism as to not even be able to tell the difference anymore = Christianity. Some of the Greatest Philosophic Minds of all time came from Ancient Greece. The idea of Democracy came from ancient Greece. Their Christianity & Paganism was derived from MUCH Older Civilizations!!! That�s why the Culture has such an authoritative feel to it!!!

Because the middle ages was a period of regress- most of what the Greek and Roman empires built up was destroyed during wars.

People during the middle ages were very naieve they didnt really have a clue- Galen was the only source for medicine ( because it fitted in with God and the Bible).

Everything was run by the church and religion and i suppose some of the Greek ideas may have fitted in with medevil peoples views of religion.

misspickle- ancient Greek ideals were not the medieval church ones. In fact the mediaval church tried to suppress ancient Greek philosophies to the extent that most of ancient Greek knowledge has been lost today. What we term Greek knowledge is really only a fragment of what once existed.

In my universe Greece is a part of Europe.

"Greece is part of Europe"- I think Greeks have always viewed themselves as unique, what I mean by that is that they never thought that they were European or Asian, just Greek

Not all ancient Greek ideals were the medevil churchs ones- but some of the medicine ideas werent.

I have just finished my History GCSE( ok- i still have alot to learn, but i do want to do a history degree!) and spent a year studying medicine through history and Galen(Galen was Roman- but he used hippocrates idea for the four humours, hippocrates was Greek) was practicaly the only thing used- any new medical ideas were shunned- it was all very supertisious.

I do realise that most of Roman and Greek ideas were lost but not the four humours- or the hippocratic oath with is still used today.

Obviously the Greek way of life was lost during the middle ages- but the medicine wasnt.

Isnt it funny in the middle ages people didnt realise that dirt spread disease( very few did)- but the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans did!

I agree we only know a fragment of what exsisted- which is a real shame.

Yeah it is a shame, Since you are interested in history, even medicine was influenced by the church. During the Byzantine Empire years, ancient greek (pagan medicine as it was branded) was only allowed to exist in the case where the church saw fit. The Eastern Empire had such a stronghold that if it wasn't for the Arabs, Greeks themselves would have had absolutely no links with their glorious past.

It is a shame how Religion hindred medicine eg allowing one dissection a year etc- the problem was the Galen only had dissected very few bodies when he went to Alexandria and the rest of the time he relied on pigs- he had the theory that the body used blood like a fuel( bleeding was used- because people thought you could have to much blood!)- not that the heart pumps your blood round the body.

Its mad to think that war has helped surgery and medicine through out the years- but that is another topic!

That is fascinating, I didnt know that. I must admit my history major was based on socio-political approaches rather than something as specific as medicine. It is rather sad to think though that only through war we were able to advance in medicine.

yes it is sad to think- the history of medicine is fasinating- i cant find enough places to talk about it though!

Everything I read so far has been bull#.

The Greeks stole everything they got from the Egyptians and pawned it off as their own works... that is why they are famous.

how is it all bull? so the two years i spent studying- its all bull??

The greeks didnt steal everything off the Egyptians- that is the first time i have heard that! Have you got any links to websites or anything that say the Greeks stole everything off the Egyptians as i am interested to find out?!

Or at least put a few examples of what they stole!

Originally posted by misspickle
how is it all bull? so the two years i spent studying- its all bull??

The greeks didnt steal everything off the Egyptians- that is the first time i have heard that! Have you got any links to websites or anything that say the Greeks stole everything off the Egyptians as i am interested to find out?!

Or at least put a few examples of what they stole!

A Masters degree isn't worth anything if your studying a distorted view of History. Everything written in textbooks is whitewashed.

If you think Hippocrates was the first medicine man or whatever his name is you obviously don't know what your talking about. You either don't know anything about Imhotep who is the true father of medicine, astrology, engineering, poetry, and almost everything else 6,000-7,000 years ago.

i didnt say hippocrates was the first medicine man( when did i say that) - and i do not look at history in a 'distorted' view- please read the posts before you throw insults.

You still havent given any examples of your statement that 'The greeks stole everything they got from the Egyptians'...

Originally posted by misspickle
i didnt say hippocrates was the first medicine man( when did i say that) - and i do not look at history in a 'distorted' view- please read the posts before you throw insults.

You still havent given any examples of your statement that 'The greeks stole everything they got from the Egyptians'...

I know you didn't say that- I'm just warning you not to think that.

Examples? Let's see where do I begin.

'Man know thyself' Quote is attributed to Socrates but that saying was written all over Egyptian templs 500-700 years before Socrates.

Also the discovery of the Atom is attributed to Greeks but the Egyptians discovered that atoms are the smallest particles of life. They even named a god after the little chaotic beings and the gods name was "Atum"

Astronomy is Egyptian and Sumerian.

Look at the structures of their buildings compared to Egyptian temples.

Every historian will agree with me when I say the Egyptian civilization fathered the Greek one.

If you want a good read read 'Stolon Legacy' by George James.

Thank you- I dont doubt at all the greeks were fathered by the egyptians- they were an amazing civilisation!

If you have any good websites- i would be really interested...

Again thank you for the examples.