The Map of Knowledge: A Thousand-Year History of How Classical Ideas Were Lost and Found

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars | 534 ratings

Price: 13.78

Last update: 11-12-2024


About this item

“The Map of Knowledge is an endlessly fascinating book, rich in detail, capacious and humane in vision.” (Stephen Greenblatt, author of The Swerve: How the World Became Modern, winner of the Pulitzer Prize)

After the Fall of Rome, when many of the great ideas of the ancient world were lost to the ravages of the Dark Ages, three crucial manuscripts passed hand to hand through seven Mediterranean cities and survived to fuel the revival of the Renaissance - an exciting debut history.

The foundations of modern knowledge - philosophy, math, astronomy, geography - were laid by the Greeks, whose ideas were written on scrolls and stored in libraries across the Mediterranean and beyond. But as the vast Roman Empire disintegrated, so did appreciation of these precious texts. Christianity cast a shadow over so-called pagan thought, books were burned, and the library of Alexandria, the greatest repository of classical knowledge, was destroyed.

Yet some texts did survive and The Map of Knowledge explores the role played by seven cities around the Mediterranean - rare centers of knowledge in a dark world, where scholars supported by enlightened heads of state collected, translated, and shared manuscripts. In 8th century Baghdad, Arab discoveries augmented Greek learning. Exchange within the thriving Muslim world brought that knowledge to Cordoba, Spain. Toledo became a famous center of translation from Arabic into Latin, a portal through which Greek and Arab ideas reached Western Europe. Salerno, on the Italian coast, was the great center of medical studies, and Sicily, ancient colony of the Greeks, was one of the few places in the West to retain contact with Greek culture and language. Scholars in these cities helped classical ideas make their way to Venice in the 15th century, where printers thrived and the Renaissance took root.

The Map of Knowledge follows three key texts - Euclid's Elements, Ptolemy's The Almagest, and Galen's writings on medicine - on a perilous journey driven by insatiable curiosity about the world.

“A lovely debut from a gifted young author. Violet Moller brings to life the ways in which knowledge reached us from antiquity to the present day in a book that is as delightful as it is readable.” (Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk Roads)

“A sumptuous, glittering, endlessly fascinating book, written with passion, verve, and humor.” (Catherine Nixey, author of The Darkening Age)


Top reviews from the United States

John D. Cofield
5.0 out of 5 stars Lively And Fascinating
Reviewed in the United States on June 12, 2019
This well written and lively history focuses on the roughly 1000 year period from about 500 to 1500 AD, during which ideas from the classical eras of Greece and Rome were dispersed, found sanctuary and expansion in the glittering Islamic civilizations in the Middle East and Spain, and then eventually returned to their original homes and beyond in Renaissance Europe. This is Violet Moller's first published work, and it promises a career of solid scholarship presented in a clear and approachable style.

I found Moller's geographical approach to her subject very appealing. She begins with the classical world, appropriately choosing Alexandria and its library as her cornerstone and then traces classical learning's dispersal in the aftermath of the collapse of Rome. Next she focuses on Muslim preservation and expansion of that classical learning with some beautiful chapters describing Baghdad and Cordoba at their heights. As the Muslim empires declined and Christian Europe began to expand, Moller chooses Toledo, Salerno, Palermo, and Venice as her prime examples, then finishes with a short conclusion focusing on the Renaissance.

Moller writes clearly, using historical examples like Galen, Emir Rahman, al-Mansur, Gerard, Petrarch, and many others to make her account lively and approachable. The Map of Knowledge makes a fine introduction for those seeking to learn more about the complex, interwoven, and tolerant world in which Muslims, Jews, and Christians traded and interacted, and in which the learning of the ancient world was preserved and expanded.
John Dennis, Jr
5.0 out of 5 stars Explains the quest to save human knowledge.
Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2022
A fascinating account of how knowledge was increased, preserved, and spread starting in the Dark Ages and extending for 1000 years. The struggle to save our knowledge base was made worse because every book had to be re-written by hand and then carried to others around Europe. This book demonstrates how humanity has striven to understand the world in which we live.
Aran Joseph Canes
4.0 out of 5 stars A New Narrative of Modernity
Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2019
While light in tone and intended for non-academics, The Map of Knowledge does carry a message intended to answer some of the more important questions of today.

Ostensibly the manuscript history of three works by Euclid, Galen and Ptolemy, Dr. Moller devotes most of the text to invoking the spirit of the cities responsible for handing down and adding to this tradition. These cities include not only the well known ancient Alexandria and Renaissance Venice but also medieval Baghdad and Córdoba. Throughout the text, she finds the same characteristics predominating in regions of intellectual progress: cosmopolitanism, openness to immigration, free exchange of ideas across different religions and cultures...all hallmarks of the modern world.

Throughout the narrative a second theme emerges with increasing vigor. The scientific and humanistic revolution which transpired in early modern Europe was partially due to the medieval societies of the Muslim and Hindu worlds. The Renaissance emphasis on a rebirth of culture not only slighted the genuine contributions of medieval Europe but also looked past the cultural importance of non-European peoples.

A true history of modernity then would not draw a blank between the fall of Rome and Renaissance Italy but discuss the vibrant societies of Abbasid Mesopotamia and Andalusian Spain. Given that these were emblematic of the multiculturalism so beloved by modernity it seems that the author is suggesting a rewrite of the history of Western civilization that would reach similar conclusions but arrive by a more circuitous route.

I’m not a professional historian and cannot vouch for the accuracy of the author’s narrative. It is clearly meant to be not merely an erudite history but also a salvo in the culture wars. But the fact that an academic can translate this material into a popular work makes the book not less but more important. It will be interesting to see if a secondary literature develops around the claims of this book and if it has its desired effect on how the history of Western civilization is taught.
Patricia Vazquez
5.0 out of 5 stars Phenomenal—content and narration
Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2023
Violet Moller follows a similar pattern used by Stephen Greenblatt's The Swerve which followed one book's unlikely survival over the course of two millennia. Moller follows three books of science: Euclid's Elements, Ptolemy's Almagest and Galen's Method of Medicine as they vanished from Europe and found refuge in the Islamic empire, in Baghdad in particular, and in Moorish Spain, the cities of Cordoba and Toledo. These cities become the portals of transmission by which the ancient texts are reintroduced to Europe via Salerno, Palermo and Venice. Susan Duerden's narration is superb, get the audiobook as well.
Andrew
5.0 out of 5 stars So engaging. Rarely is non-fiction such an engrossing page-turner
Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2019
Usually I have a hard time with non-fiction. I am the sort who reads introductions, prologues, prefaces, forwards, etc. I open the book and read every word. With non-fiction I often fall into a trap where, if the preface validates my existing biases, I cheer! “I don’t need to read this esteemed work, I already know this.” And if not, “forget this hack, utter rubbish.”

Map of Knowledge is comparable to me only to 1491 in non-fiction I have voraciously consumed after reading the introduction. Every page left me unable to pause before reading the next.
Tony Williams
5.0 out of 5 stars Sic transit gloria mundi
Reviewed in the United States on August 14, 2019
Marvellous! I like books that are well researched. The concept that various cities provide exemplars of learning isn’t new, and the realisation that Islam, in its Arabic, Persian, and Spanish incarnations was the keeper of the flame during the Western European eclipse is well described as is the transition to a resurgent west. It is compellingly written. And so enjoyable.
chris
4.0 out of 5 stars Very informative..
Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2023
If you’re big on ancient civilizations and knowledge like I am, you’ll love this book. I’m fascinated by the library of Alexandria and the house of wisdom and how ancient knowledge traveled and contributed to. The author does a great breakdown of this book.

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