For people wondering why the Islamic world would have had more texts, many of which are of western (Greek/Latin) origin, than the western world. The problem is that, as the Roman empire collapsed, papyrus supply disappeared in the west (while north Africa still had papyrus, and later early paper) forcing copyist to use-significantly more expensive and lower supply-parchment. As the texts on papyrus started to crumble to dust, monks had to decide which ones to save given the limited writing material available (so they saved a lot of Saint Augustin...).
by jmclnx
10 subcomments
Unfortunately few people know without the Muslim Scholars after the fall of Rome, little of the ancient texts would have survived.
But I wonder, was some meaning lost from Greek|Latin -> Arabic -> Latin ?
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