People have been curious about the natural world for as long as human beings have existed. The scientific impulse began very early in our history, and it continues today in full force. But its progress began to accelerate when the Sumerians (or perhaps the Egyptians) invented writing for the first time. Some consider this the beginning of “ancient history” (the meaning of “antiquity”). This is because everything before that is considered “prehistory,” rather than “history.” The invention of writing also meant that the discoveries of one generation could now be passed down to the next, and that people could thus learn from their ancestors. This saved them from having to rediscover scientific truths for themselves, and thus allowed the progress of science to accelerate a little more rapidly.
This audiobook is an excellent introduction to the earliest known science. It starts with our earliest recorded knowledge in the Middle East, and then goes on to discuss the knowledge of some other scientific cultures of that time. In their earliest coverage, they discuss the science of the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Egyptians. They look somewhat at their mathematical achievements, because math is so foundational to science. But the focus is still on the natural sciences. To a lesser degree, they also cover their connections to religion and philosophy. There was virtually no difference between science and religion in early antiquity, since the earliest scientists were almost invariably priests. For example, the study of astronomy allowed them to understand the heavens, which were in turn associated with beliefs about the will of the gods.
Aristotle, one of the founders of science
Indeed, it is nearly impossible to separate science from philosophy at this time. Thus, when the Greeks gave philosophy an entirely new direction, it had a massive influence on the course of science. They discuss Greek beliefs about everything from biology to astronomy, and what the natural world is made of. Some of their guesses were later borne out by subsequent scientists, while others were not. But the most important thing may have been that the Greeks were even asking these questions to begin with, and testing their answers against the evidence. Other cultures also produced some great scientists in antiquity. These included the Romans, the Classical Indians, and the Ancient Chinese. I will cover each of these three cultures in that order.
Gwalior Fort in India, with one of the earliest recorded uses of the zero symbol
It is sometimes said that the Greeks were the thinkers of the European classical world, while the Romans were the doers. But this is an oversimplification. Both cultures were doers, and both cultures were thinkers. Thus, the Romans produced some great scientists as well as great empire-builders. Many of them are covered in this audiobook. Later in antiquity, Classical India contributed the Hindu-Arabic numeral system. This would later be introduced to the West, and it is the standard way of writing numbers both inside and outside the West. The Ancient Chinese also had some magnificent science & engineering achievements, which are covered here as well. But the focus is primarily on two other regions, which are the Middle East and the West. These cultures may still be the most prominent in the early history of science.
Sumerian language, 26th century BC
So far, I’ve focused more on the cultural composition of the scientists involved than on the subjects that they studied. So let me briefly discuss some of the topics that they were the first to study – in a scientific way, at least. For religious reasons, astronomy was the earliest of the sciences. Nonetheless, there is also coverage of the composition of the physical world. Much of this would today be considered a sort of chemistry and physics. There is coverage of the biology of nature, as well as of the biology of human beings. This allowed them to make advances in medical science, although medicine was not quite as effective as it is today (to put it mildly). Obviously, a three-hour presentation could not cover all of these things, and has to pick and choose some of the most prominent of them. But this is a good introduction to the science of antiquity, and to this “Science & Discovery” series as a whole.
Hippocrates, credited with coining the “Hippocratic Oath”
If you’re interested in these kinds of topics, this audiobook may be a good fit for you. As the first installment in their “Science & Discovery” series, it is probably a good place to start from a chronological standpoint. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in ancient science, or even in ancient philosophy (with which it is intimately connected).
If you liked this post, you might also like:
Part of an audiobook series
Science & Discovery
Science in Antiquity
Others to be covered later
See also the audiobook series
The Giants of Philosophy
Others to be covered later
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