Lecture The Renaissance started in Baghdad
Professor Koert Debeuf tells how the renaissance started in Baghdad. Usually, the European Renaissance is described as a revival of Greek and Roman literature after ancient manuscripts were recovered from monasteries. The truth, however, is more complex, and actually more interesting.
Lecture The Renaissance started in Baghdad
Ancient philosophical ideas
moved from Athens and Alexandria to present-day Turkey. From there they moved to Baghdad and then traveled to Cairo and Cordoba in Al Andalus. The Latin translations of these Arabic works sparked an intellectual revolution in Paris and then a philosophical Renaissance in Italy.
The purpose of the lecture is to show how these ideas traveled and eventually shaped the European mind. The intellectual journey ends in the Netherlands, with Spinoza and his friends, who initiated the European Enlightenment.
Please note: this lecture is in English.