Greek Science of the Hellenistic Era: A Sourcebook (Routledge Sourcebooks for the Ancient World)

We all want to understand the world around us, and the ancientGreeks were the first to try and do so in a way we can properlycall scientific. Their thought and writings laid the essentialfoundations for the revivals of science in medieval Baghdad andrenaissance Europe. Now their work is accessible to all, with thisinvaluable introduction to c.100 scientific authors active from 320BCE to 230 CE.The book begins with an outline of a new socio-political model forthe development and decline of Greek science, followed by elevenchapters that cover the main disciplines:the science which the Greeks saw as fundamental -mathematicsastronomyastrology and geographymechanicsoptics and pneumaticsthe non-mathematical sciences of alchemy, biology, medicine and'psychology'.Each chapter contains an accessible introduction on the origins anddevelopment of the topic in question, and all the authors are setin context with brief biographies.