Good thread. We must understand the motivations of Europeans in spinning “Greek” origins.
The Church was in a war for supremacy with Islam in the Middle East. And Europe.
The advent of Christianity and its destruction of pagan knowledge had led Europe into the Dark Ages. 1/
The Church was in a war for supremacy with Islam in the Middle East. And Europe.
The advent of Christianity and its destruction of pagan knowledge had led Europe into the Dark Ages. 1/
https://twitter.com/Musashi_Nair/status/1343108710512521217
The persecution of Greek philosophers by Christians led to them fleeing to the Middle East. From the 8th to 14th c there was a flourishing of knowledge in Baghdad under the Abbasid Caliphate, building on pagan knowledge.
(Ref: Greek destruction here)
indiafacts.org/dahi-handi-deb…
(Ref: Greek destruction here)
indiafacts.org/dahi-handi-deb…
As @MeruPrastara documents, the flourishing of knowledge during this period had little to do with Islam per se but was a continuation of earlier pagan knowledge built up by the Arab & Persians, from Greek sources and knowledge from India and China. 2/
https://twitter.com/MeruPrastara/status/1257424351193956353?s=20
As Europeans and the Church came into contact with these texts in Arabic, they faced a challenge. How to use that knowledge while continuing to assert the supremacy of Christianity over Islam, and of Europeans over the Arabs & Persians during the Crusades. 3/
This is where "Greeks" came in handy. Though Christians had erased Greek knowledge, burned down the libraries, and persecuted Greek philosophers, they now sought to emphasize the Greek origin of knowledge which the Arabs had merely "preserved." 4/
https://twitter.com/KaivalyaVishwa1/status/1356254733405741062?s=20
Of course, the Arabs and Persians were not merely copying texts for history. This is not how ancient scholarship worked. They were combining knowledge into those texts from multiple sources, with math and astronomy coming in large part from India. 5/
https://twitter.com/KaivalyaVishwa1/status/1356258337072017416?s=20
The Church was a master at spin. With the conquest of India, the necessity of showing Hindus as inferior combined with the power to enforce those histories.
Histories like Mill drip with presumption of White racial superiority in evaluating "evidence."
Histories like Mill drip with presumption of White racial superiority in evaluating "evidence."
https://twitter.com/sankrant/status/1346046025631371265?s=20
As C K Raju showed, even "Euclid" is a fabrication.
Evidence from primary sources is scant. But a stack of references makes it the dominant narrative. The standard of evidence demanded to overturn it is much greater than what was used to fabricate it.😏
Evidence from primary sources is scant. But a stack of references makes it the dominant narrative. The standard of evidence demanded to overturn it is much greater than what was used to fabricate it.😏
https://twitter.com/Musashi_Nair/status/1343108718561353729?s=20
To challenge these narrative, new scholarship is needed which goes back to primary sources with a skeptical eye, questioning the entire premise of Eurocentric scholarship, whether from the Church or the "scientific racism" of progressives.
https://twitter.com/sankrant/status/1349335450029211651?s=20
(skipped tweet) To ascribe knowledge to non-Greek pagans was anathema for the Church. Inquisition sought to crucify those following pagan customs (as in Goa).
To serve Christian Supremacy+White racism, science became Greek which Arabs had "preserved."
To serve Christian Supremacy+White racism, science became Greek which Arabs had "preserved."
https://twitter.com/sankrant/status/1346046025631371265?s=20
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