Leonid Zhmud The Origin of the History of Science in Classical Antiquity

Opinions
of the Natural Philosophers (Fusikõn dóxai). Along with purely philosophi-
cal problems, this treatise included mainly those we associate with natural
sciences (cosmology, physics, meteorology, physiology, etc.). Meno’s
Medical
Collection (’Iatrik3 sunagwg2), dealing with medical theories of the fifth
and fourth centuries, is linked to physical doxography and followed its methods
of organizing material. This work was concerned, not with discoveries in the
field of medicine, but with the theories of doctors and certain physicists on the
causes of diseases. Extant from Aristoxenus’ work
On Arithmetic is a single
fragment, which holds some interest for the history of science.
The historiography of science flourished only for a short period. With the
decline of the Lyceum in the third century BC, the development of the genre
seems to have come to a standstill. Let us give a brief outline of some other
genres. While the biographies of philosophers who also pursued science do oc-
casionally include some evidence of their discoveries, biographies of ‘pure’
scientists are practically unknown to us. Eratosthenes’ introduction to his
Geography includes a short historical overview of this science, and his Pla-
tonicus is a literary version of the history of solving the problem of doubling
the cube. In his
Theory of Mathematical Sciences, Geminus (first century BC),
who is traditionally considered an intermediary between Eudemus and late
Antiquity, paid principal attention to the methodology and philosophy of
mathematics; his evidence on individual mathematicians lacks historical con-
text. Pappus limited his voluminous
Collectio (ca. 320 AD) to purely profes-
sional tasks, but dealt with mathematical problems of the past as an anthol-
ogist, not as a historian. A commentary on Euclid’s book I by Proclus (fifth
century AD), concerned as it was with mathematics as such and, to a smaller
extent, its history, paid particular attention to the philosophy and the theology
of mathematics. Commentaries on Archimedes’ works by Eutocius (sixth cen-
tury AD) include selected solutions to the famous geometrical problems of
Antiquity.

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Introduction: Greek science and its historiography
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That the history of Hellenistic astronomy or mathematics, which could have
been of inestimable help to us, has never been written is, naturally, disappoint-
ing. Our problems, however, did not concern the ancients. They were writing
for themselves, their disciples and contemporaries and could hardly imagine
that, of the total scientific literature, only one-tenth at best – if not one-fiftieth –
would ultimately survive. With time, the growing awareness of science’s grad-
ual decay spurred them to find and collect as much evidence of ancient science
as possible. Since the first century AD, we find in many authors (Dercyllides,
Theon of Smyrna, Anatolius, Porphyry, Proclus, etc.) lists of mathematicians
and astronomers with their discoveries, which were borrowed from Eudemus.
The most extensive excerpts from Eudemus’ writings are found in Simplicius,
the Neoplatonic commentator of the sixth century AD. This antiquarian trend,
though helpful in salvaging what would otherwise have been irretrievably lost,
did not bring about the revival of the history of science. Eudemus had to wait
for his followers for many hundreds of years.
3. Greek notions of science and progress
Eudemus’
History of Geometry and History of Astronomy show approaches to
science and to the selection of material rather close to serious studies of modern
times.
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We do not find in them either legends and anecdotes, or a particular in-
terest in the philosophy and theology of mathematics, or any inclination to the
number mysticism characteristic of the Platonists, for example. They are con-
cerned exclusively with scientific discoveries, with the development of new
theories and methods carried out within the framework of the professional
community –