Greek Science of the Hellenistic Era: A Sourcebook

We all want to understand the world around us, and the ancient Greeks were the first to try and do so in a way we can properly call scientific. Their thought and writings laid the essential foundations for the revivals of science in medieval Baghdad and renaissance Europe. Now their work is accessible to all, with this invaluable introduction to c.100 scientific authors active from 320 BCE to 230 CE. The book begins with an outline of a new socio-political model for the development and decline of Greek science. Eleven chapters of fully translated source material follow, with the disciplines covered ranging from the science which the Greeks saw as fundamental - mathematics - through to astronomy, astrology and geography, mechanics, optics and pneumatics, and then on to the non-mathematical sciences of alchemy, biology, medicine and ‘psychology’. Each chapter contains an accessible introduction on the origins and development of the topic in question, and all the authors are set in context with brief biographies. No other one-volume survey is as up-to-date, has such broad yet detailed coverage, or offers as many primary sources - several of which are not available elsewhere. With clear, accurate translations, and numerous illustrations, this is an essential resource for the history of science in general, and ancient science in particular.