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

Zaicev. Griechisches Wunder, 129).
35
Ibid., 122ff.
36
Stemplinger, E.
Das Plagiat in der griechischen Literatur, Berlin 1919.
37
Thraede. Erfinder, 1192.
38
Dodds, E.
The Greeks and the irrational, Berkeley 1951, 18f. For important reser-
vations, see Cairns, D. L.
Aido¯s. The psychology and ethics of honour and shame in
ancient Greek literature, Oxford 1993, 27ff., 43f.

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Chapter 1: In search of the first discoverers
32
omy and politics, which is quite often the case, but also those where a victory
brought no, or hardly any, practical benefits at all, for example in athletic
games. The agonistic spirit took root in the Greek society already in the prelit-
erate epoch; no wonder the ‘institution’ of the Olympic games in 776 is the first
dated event in Greek history and the lists of Olympic victors remain among its
earliest documents.
39
Priority in sport, particularly a victory at the Olympics,
40
which required great energy, wealth, and leisure, brought athletes the kind of
glory earlier bestowed only on kings or warlords. Quite often it was followed
by heroic honors and a cult. In the eighth to sixth centuries, the epoch of the dis-
integration of traditional norms and values, the growth of private initiatives,
and economic and territorial expansion, the Greek agonistic spirit contributed
to establishing a new value orientation toward
priority as such, independent of
whether the victor himself or his polis benefited from it materially. This emerg-
ing anti-utilitarian socio-psychological orientation contributed in turn to the
creation of a social climate in which any person of remarkable attainments in a
cultural sphere could enjoy wide public acknowledgement. Creative achieve-
ments of all sorts were stimulated, irrespective of their practical utility; the
pressure of tradition was substantially decreased.
41
Already in the early seventh century, fame could be achieved by accom-
plishments whose practical significance for society was far from evident: vic-
tory in a stadium race, poetic endowment, or invention of a musical instrument.
Greek athletics, poetry, and music manifested themselves earlier than other ac-
tivities simply because they were rooted in the traditions of the preliterate
epoch. In the first part of the sixth century, to which our earliest mention of
pro¯tos heurete¯s belongs, fame could be claimed by those who proved a geo-
metrical theorem, drew a geographical map, or imparted a new philosophical
theory to his fellow citizens.
This anti-utilitarian orientation should not, however, be overestimated. The
social weight of practical inventions did not become any smaller, otherwise
they would not have been assigned to gods, heroes, and, later, famous philos-
ophers.
42
In the mid-fifth century, the renowned architect Hippodamus of Mile-
tus proposed a law calling for honors to be bestowed on inventors of things use-
ful to the state.
43
In the classical epoch, not only técnai, but also philosophy
and theoretical sciences made claims to practical importance and social utility
39
See Moretti, L.
 I vincitori negli antichi agoni olimpici, Rome 1957.
40
Let us note that Greek athletics knew nothing of second and third places; only vic-
tory counted.
41
Zaicev.
Griechisches Wunder, esp. ch. 2–3.
42
See below, 35 n. 60. On the positive attitudes of the Greeks to technology, see
Schneider,
op. cit., 52ff.; Schürmann, A. Griechische Mechanik und antike Gesell-
schaft, Stuttgart 1991.
43
Arist.
Pol. 1268a 6f., b 23f. = DK 39 A 1. Aristotle approved of Hippodamus’ idea,
particularly with regard to arts and sciences, objecting only to too-frequent changes
of laws.

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2. Heurematography and the ‘Greek miracle’
33
(2.1). In the third century, Eratosthenes was so proud of having invented a new
device for drawing curves that he dedicated to King Ptolemy III a bronze model
of it, adding a fine epigram that emphasized the practical utility of the device.
44
Archimedes’ biographer Heraclides pointed out that his book
On Measuring
the Circle is useful for the necessities of life.
45
In the sixth and the fifth centuries, almost all of civilization was regarded as
a sum total of various técnai,
46
among which mousik2, poihtik2, ıatrik2,
and logistik33 (técnh) figured along with other crafts and arts. Until the first