Tanja Pommerening

Jochen Althoff

Dominik Berrens

The creation and justification of knowledge in antiquity and the Middle Ages gives rise to several questions: How is 'foreign' knowledge given authority? What are the mechanisms of legitimation? Are the ascriptions by the sources concerning the origin of knowledge as either inherited or borrowed traceable and comprehensible or artificial and unfounded? Does transferred knowledge create new concepts during the act of borrowing?0To answer these questions, the volume is divided into three parts: After a section on theoretical and methodological considerations, two thematic sections deal with a special field of knowledge, i.e. on concepts of the moon and of the end of the world in fire.

Construction and Transfer of Knowledge in Antiquity and the Middle Ages

Finding, Inheriting Or Borrowing?

Annette Imhausen

Ancient cultures have left written evidence of a variety of scientific texts. But how can/should they be translated? Is it possible to use modern concepts (and terminology) in their translation and which consequences result from this practice? Scholars of various disciplines discuss the practice of translating ancient scientific texts and present examples of these texts and their translations.

Methodological Aspects with Examples

Translating Writings of Early Scholars in the Ancient Near East, Egypt, Greece and Rome

Since the dawn of humanity, people have developed concepts about themselves and the natural world in which they live. This volume aims at investigating the construction and transfer of such concepts between and within various ancient and medieval cultures. The single contributions try to answer questions concerning the sources of knowledge, the strategies of transfer and legitimation as well as the conceptual changes over time and space. After a comprehensive introduction, the volume is divided into three parts: The contributions of the first section treat various theoretical and methodological aspects. Two additional thematic sections deal with a special field of knowledge, i.e. concepts of the moon and of the end of the world in fire.

The Construction and Transfer of Knowledge in Antiquity and the Middle Ages

Finding, Inheriting or Borrowing?

Medicine, astronomy, dealing with numbers even the cultures of the pre-modern world offer a rich spectrum of scientific texts. But how are they best translated? Is it sufficient to translate the sources into modern scientific language, and thereby, above all, to identify their deficits? Or would it be better to adopt the perspective of the sources themselves, strange as they are, only for them not to be properly understood by modern readers? Renowned representatives of various disciplines and traditions present a controversial and constructive discussion of these problems."

Translating Ancient Scientific Texts

Writings of Early Scholars in the Ancient Near East, Egypt, Rome, and Greece

Walter Bisang

The volume presents phenomena of classification and categorisation in ancient and modern cultures and provides an overview of how cultural practices and cognitive systems interact when individuals or larger groups conceptually organize their world. Scientists of antiquity studies, anthropologists, linguists etc. will find methods to reconstruct early concepts of men and nature from a synchronic and diachronic comparative perspective.

Tanja Pommerening

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