Fall 2021

T7T8T9 (15:30-18:30)
room 旺宏 245

前近代科學史
Introduction to the History
of Pre-Modern Science
11010GEC 150400
Instructor: Alexei Volkov (琅元)
E-mail: lang.yuan.tw@gmail.com
Office: Education Hall 201
Time Presentation Team A Team B Team C
topic
Week T7. History of 徐于茹 鄭基君 林諭震
10 alchemy in East 陳醇臻 楊博任 賴翰霖
11/16 and West.
鄧皓銘 謝松庭 胡真瑜
簡志翰 林珊妮 陳博竣
王澤霖 陳依敏 傅詠軒
Oct 3, 2021, 9:59 PM
Sep 17, 2021, 10:22
AM 李渼筑 林諭震
郭義安 Sep 25, 2021,
2:18 AM 陳昇
羅安娜 Oct 5, 2021, 3:54 PM

Sep 24, 2021, 7:35

PM
Week No presentation
11 (MIDTERM
11/23 EXAM)
Time Presentation Team A Team B Team C
topic
Week T8. Traditional 李映泓 陳維欣 鍾人馨
12 medicine in Asia
陳育璟 陳敬霖 張晉倫
11/30 (India, China,
Japan, Korea…) 盧致涵 周鈺庭 余宸緯
before the 18th 王星驊 郭宇晉 蔡欣芸
century.
劉辰轅 林承岳 陳姿妤
曹立暉 Sep 20, 2021, 4:04
PM
Sep 30, 2021, 4:17
PM
陳聖鈞
Sep 17, 2021, 9:57
AM
Time Presentation Team A Team B Team C
topic
Week 13 T9. Traditional 王淑君 鄭宇呈 游鈞
12/07 medicine in the
陳嬿洵 張中立 吳玹羽
West (Western
Europe, 李欣融 蔡承祐 陳博謙
Byzantine 陳禹豪 吳耕緯 楊倩
Empire) and in
江伊涵 陳霈澤 何嘉
Islamic world
Sep 22, 2021, 6:18 Sep 25, 2021, 12:49
before the 18th PM 林恩齊
AM
century. Oct 5, 2021, 6:14
宗婕妤 PM
Added on Oct 19
Time Presentation Team A Team B Team C
topic
Week T10. 阮溫愛玲 簡銘賜 陸建良
14 Astrology in Sep 15, 2021, 1:48
沈耘榆 李瑞福
12/14 Asia AM
(including 陳怡蓁 張伯韜 郭光輝
China) before
謝昀真 程育棋 Sep 28, 2021, 3:39
PM
the 18th
戴昕宇 余雪淩 貝仁義
century.
朱婉綾 施冠廷 Oct 8, 2021, 5:01
PM
Sep 25, 2021, 7:16
Sep 16, 2021, 5:00
PM
PM
Time Presentation Team A Team B Team C
topic
Week T11. 徐景程 黃浩倫 鄭億嬡
15 Astrology in 李宗翰, 潘昱仰 沈義淞
12/21 the West 王冠程 吳東哲
余品毅,
before the 蔡博安 簡宏偉
18th century. 楊淮鈞, 李曜佑 曾微絲
黃品崴, 陳雪妮 黎子隆
徐瑋伶 Oct 5, 2021, 4:57 雲天晨
Oct 5, 2021, 3:57 PM
PM
Time Presentation Team A Team B Team C
topic
Week T12. The 徐家喜 陳昱丞 闕子平
16 early history 鄧竣元 陳浩元 蔡沈芊
12/28 of counting: 李子熏
王多榮 牟展佑
fingers, 李映儒
pebbles, 林敬文 蔣立元 廖鈺薇
sticks, 古芳容 Oct 3, 2021,
11:36 PM Oct 6, 2021,
Sep 20, 2021,
suan-pan, 10:53 AM 劉家成 9:15 PM
soroban, …
莊晴雯
and so on.
林小慧
楊光星
Changed topic
because of
vaccination;
applied on Oct 5,
2021, 3:53 PM
Time Presentation topic Team A Team B
Week T13. Science and 曾宗德 廖允寬
17 religion: enemies
張水蓮 張祐綱
01/04 or partners?
陳漢權 黃奕淳
邱妃麗 Sep 14, 2021, 5:25 PM

林浩楠 朴俊鎬
Added on Oct 13
Sep 14, 2021, 4:53 PM
Roman Empire
Thomas Cole's (1801 – 1848) “The Fall of Rome (The Course of Empire Destruction, 1836)”
The role of Christianity
A small Jewish sect of
the first century AD in
the remote corner of the
Roman Empire became
a major religious force
in the third century AD
and the state religion by
the end of the fourth
century.

[Picture: Jesus healing

the bleeding woman,
Roman catacombs,
300–350.]
The question is : how did the dominance of
Christianity affect knowledge of, and attitudes
towards, nature?

Standard answer developped in the 18th and 19th

century and widely popular in the 20th century:
Christianity presented serious obstacles to the
advancement of science.

But was it really so?

The Church became a patron of learning, and it was done
through the creation and support of schools.

Elementary education in Rome (begins at about age seven):

mainly home education; subjects: reading, writing,
calculations.
Boys started their studies with a tutor at about age twelve
Latin grammar and literature. At age 15 started studies of
rhetoric, in school.

Next step (not for everybody): study philosophy, always in

Greek with a philosopher.
Eventually, a system of municipal and state schools was
established in the Empire, including Spain, Gaul (i.e.,
modern France), and North Africa.
The Bible was the central core of the educational program;
biblical commentaries and other religious texts supplemented
the Bible. Classical pagan (= non-Christian) literature, widely
judged irrelevant or dangerous, was not prominent.

But there were many exceptions. An examination of writings

held and reproduced in monasteries shows a surprisingly
extensive knowledge of ancient sources.

Example: the penetration of classical learning into the

monasteries in Ireland from the 6th century onward (there is
no adequate historical explanation for this fact!). Some Greek
was known, and the mathematical arts of the quadrivium
(particularly as applied to the calendar) were well developed.
Elements of chronology

The idea of the « Middle Ages » or « Medieval Period »

first arose in the 14th and 15th centuries among Italian
humanist scholars, who detected a dark middle period
between the bright acheivements of Greek and Roman
antiquity and the enlightement of their own age.

The chronological limits of the Middle Ages are blurred. We

can adopt some round numbers: the Middle Ages may be
taken to cover the period from the end of Roman
civilization (say, A.D. 500) to 1450 when the artistic and
literary revival commonly known as the Renaissance was
under way. It can be convenient to subdivide this period
into the early Middle Ages (approximately 500 to 1000), a
transition period (1000-1200), and the high (or late) Middle
Ages (1200 to 1450).
 [Saint] Isidore of Seville (c. 560 –
636). Became archbishop of
Seville in 600. An outstanding
scholar.
Wrote a number of books based on Christian
and pagan sources:
On the Nature of Things (Latin De natura
rerum);
Etymologies (Etymologiarum);
Differences (Differentiarum);
On illustrious men (De viris illustribus);
Book on Numbers occuring in Holy Scripture
(Liber numenorum qui in sanctis scripturis
occurunt);
On the origin of the Goths and of the kings of
the Vandals and Sveves (De origine Gothorum
et regno Sueborum et Vandalorum);
Questions on the Old and New Testaments (De
Veteri et Novo Testamento quastiones);
Book of aphorism (Sententiarum libri tres).
Etymologies (Latin Etymologiarum) or
Origins (Latin Origines) is the main
encyclopaedic work of Isidore; it contains
20 volumes.

First three volumes are devoted to the

Seven Liberal Arts: Trivium (first
volume: grammar; rhetorics and
dialectics: second volume) and
Quadrivium (third volume: arithmetic,
geometry, astronomy and music).
Volume 4: medicine; libraries; vol. 5: laws; chronology; vol. 6: Church texts
and rituals; vol. 7: God, angels, saints, celestial and terrestrial hierarchies; vol.
8: Church and heretic teachings (at least 68!); vol. 9: languages,countries,
kingdoms, titles; vol. 10: etymologies; vol. 11: man, miracles, omens; vol. 12:
animals and birds; vol. 13: continents; vol. 14: geography; vol. 15:
architecture, roads; vol. 16: stones and metals; vol. 17: agriculture; vol. 18:
terms of war, law, and public games; vol. 19: ships, buildings, clothes; vol. 20:
food, tools, furniture.
 Venerable Bede (673?–735),
English monk, historian, and
theologian.

At the age of 7 entered a

monastery in northeastern
England and there spent the
remainder of his life studying
and teaching. The monastery had
special concern for quadrivium
studies and the classical Greek
and Latin literature.

Bede wrote a book entitled « On the nature of things » and two

textbooks on timekeeping and calendar. In the latter book Bede laid
foundations for the « science of computus » (computation of religious
calendar) later adopted in other Christian countries of Europe.
The Byzantine Empire
(or ”Eastern Roman
Empire” or ”Byzantium”)
was the continuation of
the Roman Empire;
its capital city
was Constantinople
(present-day Istanbul,
Turkey). It survived the
Western Roman
Empire (that fell in the 5th
century AD) and continued
to exist till 1453.

Map of Constantinople
(1422)
 Greek heritage: Learning and Science in Byzantium
The name "Byzantium" is a Latinization of the original name
Byzantion. The city is what later evolved to be the center of the
Byzantine Empire (the Greek-speaking Roman Empire of late
Antiquity and the Middle Ages) under the name of Constantinople.
Emperor Constantine I
(c. 272 – 337) presents
a model of the city of
Constantinople as
tribute to an enthroned
Mary and baby Jesus
(detail)
Constantinople before its destruction of 1204 (modern reconstruction).
The 6th-century Hagia
Sophia (532–537)
by Byzantine emperor
Justinian the Great was
the largest cathedral in
the world for nearly a
thousand years.
Justinian the Great,
482–565
Hagia Sophia in Istambul (Constantinople); present day.
Territories under control of the Eastern Roman Empire (including
the ancient territories of the Western Roman Empire conquered
by Justinian the Great)
The Elements of Euclid, a copy of AD 888, made in Constantinnople
The fathers of the Greek Church were determined to subordinate
the study of nature to theology and religious life. Scholarly
interests were mainly theological or literary. Philosophers tended
toward commentary on classical authors.

However, the Platonic tradition was represented by distinguished

scholars. Also, certain philosophers of the Byzantine period wrote
important commentaries on Aristotle, explained, improved or
criticized his philosophy of nature. The level of scholarship was
much higher than in the Latin West. University of Constantinople
was founded in AD 425.

(There was no language barrier! The language spoken and written

in the Byzantine empire was Greek.)
The Crusades:

The First Crusade : 1096 to 1099

The Second Crusade : 1147 to 1149
The Third Crusade : 1189 to 1192
The Fourth Crusade : 1201 to 1204
The Fifth Crusade : 1218 to 1221
The Sixth Crusade : 1228 to 1229
The Seventh Crusade : 1248 to 1254
The Eighth Crusade : 1270

In 1212 what became known as the Children’s Crusade also

occurred.
The city of Constantinople did not fall to invaders until 1203; it was
sacked by the Crusaders in 1204.
The Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople (E. Delacroix, 1840)
… the Frenchmen and Flemings were filled with a lust for
destruction: they rushed in a howling mob down the streets
and through the houses, snatching up everything that
glittered and destroying whatever they could not carry,
pausing only to murder or to rape, or to break open the
wine-cellars. Neither monasteries nor churches nor
libraries were spared. In St Sophia itself drunken soldiers
could be seen tearing down the silken hangings and pulling
the silver iconostasis to pieces, while sacred books and
icons were trampled under foot.
 Islam
Muhammad (c.570-632): born in
Mecca; here he preached the new
religion of Islam. Muhammad had a
series of revelations in which the
Koran (or Quran, the holy book of
Islam) was dictated to him by the
angel Gabriel.

The central theme of these revelations

was the existence of a single
omnipotent (= having the ultimate
power), omniscient (= having the
ultimate knowledge/wisdom) God,
Allah, creator of the Universe, whom
the faithful (called « Muslims » or
« Moslems ») must worship.
From 711 to 756, the Muslims swept over the Iberian Peninsula,
conquering nearly all of it and establishing a foothold north of the Pyrenees
in Narbonne. In the present-day Spain, they put down local rebellions and
established the Emirate of Córdoba.
In 762, the caliph (= the leader of all Muslims) Al-Mansur
(712–775) founded the city of Baghdad; some time later the
House of Wisdom was founded there there by his son Harun
al-Rashid and his grandson al-Ma'mun.

The House of Wisdom was a large library (arguably, the largest

in the world at that time), a translation center, and a research
institution for humanities and for sciences, including
mathematics, astronomy, medicine, chemistry, zoology and
geography.

Drawing on Persian, Indian and Greek texts—including those of

Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, Hippocrates, Euclid, Plotinus,
Galen, Aryabhata and Brahmagupta—the Islamic scholars
accumulated a great collection of knowledge in the world, and
built on it through their own discoveries.
 Astronomy

Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Kathīr

al-Farghānī known in the West as
Alfraganus or Alfergani (d. after 861).
Was born in Central Asia (in Fergana,
modern Uzbekistan), later worked in
Bagdad (modern Iraq) and in Cairo
(modern Egypt); wrote an elementary
textbook of Ptolemaic astronomy titled
Kitāb fī Jawāmiʿ ʿIlm al-Nujūm
(Compendium of the Science of the Stars
or Elements of astronomy on the celestial
motions), between 833 and 857. Later it
was translated into Latin and became very
popular in Medieval Europe.
The first Latin translation was done by John of Seville (active
between 1135 and 1153) about 1135. Printed Latin versions based
on this translation were published in Ferara (1493), Nuremberg
(1537), and Paris (1546).

The translation of Gerard of Cremona (made some time before

1175) was not printed until the 20th century, but it circulated in
manuscript form throughout Europe.

A Hebrew translation (before 1385?) of the Arabic text was

prepared by Jacob Anatoli. This Hebrew version, together with the
Latin version of John of Seville, was used by Jacob Christmann to
prepare a new Latin translation, published in Frankfurt (1590).
Two pages from a medieval Latin translation of Al-Farghani’s treatise
(currently in National Library of France)
Thabit ibn Qurra (836-901) studied the apparent motions of the
sun and the moon on Ptolemaic principles; concluded that the
precession of the equinoxes is nonuniform and devised a theory
of variable precession.
Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Jābir
ibn Sinān al-Raqqī al-Ḥarrānī al-Ṣābiʾ
al-Battānī (known in the West as
Albategnius, Albategni or Albatenius)
(born c. 858 – 929).
A famous mathematician and
astronomer. His main work Kitāb
az-Zīj was frequently quoted by many
Western astronomers, including
Copernicus and Kepler.
Al-Battani introduced mathematical
improvements into Ptolemaic
astronomy, studied the motion of the
sun and the moon, calculated new
values for solar and lunar motions, drew
up a corrected star catalogue, and
devised new astronomical instruments.
An astronomy
class
The motion of Mercury
according to Ala Al-Din
Abu'l-Hasan Ali Ibn Ibrahim
Ibn al-Shatir (1304 – 1375);
worked in Damascus.

He introduced his own

non-Ptolemaic models which
eliminates the epicycle in the
solar model, eliminates the
eccentrics and equant by
introducing extra epicycles in
the planetary models, and
eliminates all eccentrics,
epicycles and equant in
the lunar model.

His model was in better

agreement with empirical
observations than any
previous models produced
before him.
Along with all other libraries in Baghdad, the House of
Wisdom was destroyed during the Mongol invasion of
Baghdad in 1258. It was said that the waters of the
Tigris ran black for six months with ink from the
enormous quantities of books flung into the river.
Spain: The zone of contact between Islamic world and Latin West
Al-Andalus

Toledo: a large library

Cordoba: a large library

 Poitiers 1561

The Battle of Tours (October 732), also called the Battle

of Poitiers was fought in an area between the cities of
Poitiers and Tours, located in north-central France, near
the village of Moussais-la-Bataille, about 20 kilometres
(12 mi) northeast of Poitiers.
Charles de Steuben (1788 – 1856), Bataille de Poitiers, en octobre
732 - La galerie des Batailles - Château de Versailles
The Reconquista
The translation
movement
The earliest
translations from the
Arabic, several
treatises on
mathematics and
astronomical
instruments, were
made late in the 10th Mural painting showing Galen and
Hippocrates. 12th century; Anagni, Italy
century in Spain.
A century later, a Benedictine monk from North Africa based in
southern Italy, began to translate medical treatises from Arabic to
Latin, including the works of the famous Greek authors Galen (AD
129 – 200, may have possibly written up to 600 treatises!!) and
Hippocrates (ca. 460 BC – ca. 370 BC), which laid the foundation
of the Western medicine.
Beginning in the first half of the twelfth century,
translation became a major scholarly activity, with Spain
as the geographical focus. Contact with the Middle East as
a result of the Crusades had a minimal impact on
translations prior to the mid-12th century. Spain had the
advantage of a brilliant Arabic culture, an ample supply of
Arabic books, and communities of Christians who could
help to mediate between the two cultures. As a result of the
Reconquista, the large libraries of Arabic books, especially
that of Toledo (re-conquered in 1085), became available to
the Christian church authorities.
John of Seville (born ca. 1090; active between 1135
and 1153; died ca. 1180), a local (bilingual Christian
from Jewish family, translated a large number of
astrological books.

Hugh of Santalla (fl. 1145), from Northern Spain,

translated texts on astrology and divination.

Mark of Toledo (fl. 1191-1216), tranlsated several

texts of Galen.

Robert of Chester (fl. 1141-1150, from Wales), Plato

of Tivoli (fl. 1132-46, Italy), as well as some other
foreigners.
Gerard of Cremona
(Italian: Gerardo da
Cremona; Latin:
Gerardus
Cremonensis; c.
1114–1187), a
Lombardian
(Northern Italy).
Gerard of Cremona came to Spain in the late 1130s or early 1140s
in search of Ptolemy’s Almagest. He found a copy in Toledo,
remained to learn Arabic, and translated the treatise into Latin. But
he also discovered texts on other subjects, and over the next 35-40
years produced (probably, with a team of assistants) translations of
a 71 (76?) texts:

- At least a dozen astronomical texts, including the Almagest;

- Seventeen books on mathematics and optics, including Euclid’s
Elements and Al-Khwarismi’s Algebra;
- Fourteen books on logic and natural philosophy, including
Aristotle’s Physics, On the Heavens, Meteorology, and On
generation and corruption;
- Twenty-four medical books, including Ibn-Sina’s great Canon of
Medicine and nine Galenic treatises.
Adelard of Bath
(c. 1080? – c. 1142–11
52?), an English
natural philosopher
who translated into
Latin many Arabic
and Greek scientific
works of astrology,
astronomy, alchemy,
and mathematics.
These works included
the oldest surviving
Latin translation of
Euclid’s Elements
from an Arabic
version.
A 13th century
French
manuscript
copy of
Adelard of
Bath’s
translation of
Euclid’s
Elements.
Italian translators: a number of direct translations from Greek to
Latin were produced in the mid-12th and the 13th century.
Among the translated books were Almagest of Ptolemy, and
Euclid’s Elements, Optics, and Catoptrics (mathematical theory
of mirrors), complete collection of Aristotle’s works, Aristotle’s
commentators, Neo-Platonic authors and some works of
Archimedes.

By the thirteenth century, the Latin West recovered the major

portions of the Greek and Arabic philosophical and scientific
acheivements. These books spread quickly to the great
educational centers, where they contributed to the educational
revolution.
The rise of
Universities
in Western
Europe

Curriculum:
the Liberal
Arts, Medicine,
Theology,
Law.
Note: The
earliest
European
Universities
were not
« founded »,
but emerged
gradually out
of
pre-existing
schools.
Boys came to the university at the age of about fourteen, having
previously learned Latin in a grammar school. Matriculation in the
university conferred clerical status, but this does not mean that
students were actual priests or monks, but simply that they were under
the authority and protection of the Church and had certain priviliges.

The student enrolled under a particular master whose lectures he

followed for three or four years before presenting himself to be
examined for the bachelor’s (« young man’s ») degree. If he passed
this exam, he became a bachelor of arts, and was permitted to give
certain types of lectures under the direction of a master (like the
modern teaching assistant), while continuing his studies.

At about 21, having heard lectures on all of the required subjects, he

could take the examination for the Master of Arts degree. Passage of
this examination brought the student full membership in the arts
faculty, with the right to teach anything in the arts curriculum.
A typical medieval University: 200-800 students.

The major universities were considerably larger:

- Oxford 1000-1500 students (14th century);
- Bologna: same size;
- Paris 2500-2700 students.

The great majority of the students dropped out after a year or

two, having acquired sufficient education to meet their needs,
having run out of money, or for other reasons.

The program of studies in medicine required 5-6 years beyond

the MA degree; in law, 7-8 additional years; in theology, 8-16
additional years.
 Curriculum

The basis was the Seven Liberal Art, but it was understood that
they could not a perfect curriculum without modifications.

Trivium: Grammar: declined in significance; istead, strong

emphasis on logic.
Quadrivium: Kept low profile.

Additions: « three philosophies »: moral philosophy, natural

philosophy (= philosophical study of nature, that is, almost the
same as « science » now, including biology, cosmology,
physics,etc), and metaphysics (investigation of principles of reality
transcending those of any particular science, such as ontology,
that is, the investigation into what types of things there are in the
world and what relations these things bear to one another).

Advanced subjects: medicine, law, and theology.

Quadrivium: generally taught, but rarely stressed.

Arithmetic and geometry: 8-10 weeks in the curriculum of the

typical medieval undergraduate. Yet those who wanted more
could usually obtain it, at least in large universities.

Astronomy: more highly cultivated; two main applications

were:
- timekeeping and calendar (especially calculation of
the date of Easter);
- theoretical foundation of astrology.

Teaching materials: translations of Greek and Arabic books

(including the Almagest), and new textbooks written especially
for teaching.

General level of astronomy: quite low (with some exceptions

though).
High degree of uniformity of the curriculum from one
university to another (to compare with Ancient Greece). The
massive translation of the Greek and Arabic sources in the
12th century supplied European scholars with a standard set
of sources and, even more importantly, with a common sets
of problems.

The uniformity was also connected with the high level of

moblity of European students and professors. A scholar who
earned his degree at Paris could teach at Oxford: the
subjects were almost identical, and the language of
scholarship (Latin) was the same (to compare with the role
of Arabic and Chinese languages).
New feature: Aristotelian natural philosophy became central to
the curriculum.

In the 12th century: modest beginning;

Early 13th centruy: the influence is growing, and in the second

half of the 13th century Aristotle’s works on metaphysics,
cosmology, physics, meteorology, psychology, and natural
history (i.e., the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning
more towards the observational than experimental methods)
became compulsory objects of study.
1517
German monk Martin Luther starts the Protestant Reformation.

Martin Luther (1483 – 1546 ) as a monk


Martin Luther in 1529 by Lucas Cranach
The first and chief article is
this: Jesus Christ, our God and
Lord, died for our sins and was
raised again for our
justification. […] All have
sinned and are justified freely,
without their own works and
merits, by His grace, through
the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, in His blood. This is
necessary to believe. This
cannot be otherwise acquired
or grasped by any work, law or
merit. Therefore, it is clear and
certain that this faith alone
justifies us…
 European Wars of Religion (1524 to 1648 )

Example: the Battle of White Mountain (1620, in present-day Czech Republic):

around 30,000 soldiers participated on each side. Around 5,000 dead or wounded.
Protestants were defeated.
Protestan
ts
Catholic
s
The Decree adopted by the
Fourth Session (8 April 1546)
of tthe Council of Trent
(1545-1563):
… to control petulant spirits, the
Council decrees that, in matters
of faith and morals pertaining to
the edification of Christian
doctrine, no one, relying on his
own judgement, and distorting
the Sacred Scriptures according to his own conceptions, shall dare to
interpret them contrary to that sense which Holy Mother Church,
to whom it belongs to judge of their true sense and meaning, has held
and does hold, or even contrary to the unanimous agreement of the
Fathers, even though such interpretations should never at any time
be published. Those who do otherwise shall be identified by the
ordinaries and punished in accordance with the penalties
prescribed by the law.
Jacques Courtois (1621-1665). The miracle of Joshua
suspending the motion of the Sun, ca. 1650
 The Jesuits
耶穌會

First three Greek letters of "IHΣOYΣ XPIΣTOΣ " (Jesus);

also"Iesus Hominum Salvator", Jesus, Saviour of Mankind,
or "Iesum Habemus Socium", We have Jesus as Companion,
or "Iesu Humilis Societas", Humble Society of Jesus
 The Jesuits

Ignatius of Loyola
(1491 – 1556) C. Clavius
(1538 – 1612)
The Society of Jesus (Latin: Societas Iesu, S.J. and S.I. or SJ,
SI) is a Roman Catholic religious order whose members are
called Jesuits. The founder of the Order was Saint Ignatius of
Loyola.
On August 15, 1534, Ignatius of Loyola
(born Íñigo López de Loyola), a Spaniard
of Basque origin, and six other students
at the University of Paris (Francisco
Xavier, Alfonso Salmeron, Diego Laínez,
and Nicolás Bobadilla all from Spain,
Peter Faber from Savoy in France, and
Simão Rodrigues from Portugal)
established the Society of Jesus.

13 October 1491 - 31 July 1556

Ignatius de Loyola
(1491 – 1556)
Constitutiones Soc.
Iesu (preparatory documents,
various sets of rules and
directives).
 Special emphasis on
education:

In addition to teaching faith,

the Ratio Studiorum
emphasized the study of
Latin, Greek, classical
literature, poetry, and
philosophy as well as
non-European languages,
sciences and the arts.
Furthermore, Jesuit schools
encouraged the study of
vernacular literature and
rhetoric, and thereby became
important centers for the
training of lawyers and
public officials.
Ratio Studiorum (Latin: "Plan of Studies"), 1598.
Its full title is Ratio atque Institutio Studiorum Societatis Iesu ("The Official
Plan for Jesuit Education"). Compiled by an international team of academics
at the Jesuit school in Rome, the Collegio Romano.
St. Ignatius of Loyola
founded the Roman
College in 1551.
Christopher Clavius,
(1538 – 1612), a German
Jesuit mathematician and
astronomer. In his last years
he was probably the most
respected astronomer in
Europe; his textbooks were
used for astronomical and
mathematical education for
over fifty years in Europe;
were also used by Jesuit
missionaries.
Jesuits in China: the
case of Matteo Ricci
利瑪竇 (1552 –1610)
St. Francisco Xavier
(1506 - 1552)
Cathedral St Paul (São Paulo), Macau.
Built from 1582 to 1602 by the Jesuits, the cathedral was the largest Catholic
church in Asia at the time
 Quiz 6. Consider the following statement:
“The Earth is in the center of the Universe, and the Sun
rotates around the Earth; the Sun’s orbit is a perfect circle
and the Earth is in the center of this circle.” Who of the
scholars below would agree with this statement?
(A) Pythagoras;
(B) Anaximander;
(C) Aristotle; CORRECT

(D) Aristarchus;
(E) Ptolemy;
(F) None of the above.