Hellenization

Hellenization is the adoption of Greek culture, religion, language, and identity by non-Greeks. In the ancient period, colonization often led to the Hellenization of indigenous people. In the Hellenistic period, many of the territories which were conquered by Alexander the Great were Hellenized. Quotes Let no one be shocked if, with reference to the creation of the world, I should invoke the testimony of pagan philosophers rather than the church fathers…. Let us then borrow from them and, with God’s help and command, rob the pagan philosophers of their wisdom and eloquence. Let us take from the unfaithful so as to enrich ourselves faithfully with the spoils. Daniel of Morley in Anthony Pym, Negotiating the Frontier: Translators and Intercultures in Hispanic History , Jerome Publishing, Manchester, 2000. quoted in Euclid and Jesus, How and why the church changed mathematics and Christianity across two religious wars C. K. Raju Only when it started emerging from the Dark Age did Europe first come to know of the Elements—through 12th c. translations from Arabic into Latin by Adelard of Bath and Gerard of Cremona—after the capture of the Toledo library, and the setting up there of a translation factory. However, at this time of the Crusades, there was a strong sense of shame in learning from the Islamic enemy. Also at the time of the Inquisition, the fears that Toledo was a Trojan horse that would spread heresy could not be lightly discounted. The shame was contained by the strategy of "Hellenization"—all the world knowledge, up to the 11th c. CE found in the Arabic books (including, for example, Indian knowledge) was indiscriminately assigned an early Greek origin, with the Arabs assigned the role of mere transmitters (and the Indians nowhere in the picture). The fear of heresy was contained by the strategy of Christianization of this incoming knowledge, by reinterpreting it to bring it in line with the requirements of Christian theology. C. K. Raju. Cultural Foundations of Mathematics: The Nature of Mathematical Proof and the Transmission of the Calculus from India to Europe. Pearson Education India, 2007 External links Category:History of Greece