Translatio Studiorum

Abstract

Translatio studiorum, literally the transfer of learning, refers to the transmission of knowledge from one place to another, one period to another, or/and from one intellectual context to another. It may also include the transfer of ideas and concepts from one medium to another, through material culture and the arts. Latin translations and commentaries from medieval Arabic became important mediators of Classical western knowledge, although some Renaissance humanists advocated the philosophical primacy of Greek, the language of scientific and philosophical classical scholarship. During the fifteenth century, Greek originals were rediscovered and revived and, by the mid sixteenth century, both Greek and Latin texts were translated into native vernaculars and printed, thus reaching a larger public. Some recent scholars have claimed that the fundamental concern of translatio studiorum with literary legacy has detracted from the contribution of material and artistic mediators. Furthermore, literature on translatio studiorum has generally promoted the assumption that human learning and cultural heritage originated in Greece and spread to the West, thereby ignoring mutual influences and interactions between the cultures and learning of East and West.