Velestinlis, Rigas, An Anthology of Physics, 1790

Digitized copy: University of Athens, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
Digitized by: University of Athens, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
Copyright: (images) University of Athens, Department of History and Philosophy of Science

 

This resource is part of

Collection "Hellinomnimon" of Books on Physics and Natural Philosophy

Max Planck Institute for the History of Science

University of Athens, Department of History and Philosophy of Science

The books in the digital library Hellinomnimon are divided into four main categories.

  1. The first category consists of books in history and geography. During the earlier part of the 18th century the content of these books was related to the events and the topography of ancient Greece; during the later period of the century their contents started to change and were adapted to the needs of the commercial activities of the Greek merchants.
  2. The second category includes mathematical books. Initially, most of them were geometries based on Euclid' s Elements; after the middle of the 18th century many books of algebra and trigonometry were written, while some of them contained extended chapters of analytical geometry and infinitesimal calculus. At the beginning of the 19th century a number of handbooks in practical arithmetic appeared and were extensively used by the merchants in their dealings.
  3. The third category includes the philosophical books which are mainly treatises in Metaphysics and Logic. These books have a special interest for the history of science in the Greek speaking regions of the Ottoman Empire because they reflect the attempts to form the philosophical context in which the new scientific ideas were to be elaborated. In these books one can witness the encounter of the traditional Aristotelian and patristic approaches with the new trends in philosophy emerging out of some of the Western European philosophy.
  4. The fourth category which is the one presented here consists of books in physics and natural philosophy. During the earlier period these books presented the new physical ideas within a theologically biased Aristotelian context. In the later period the new ideas started to be discussed in a manner which increasingly reflected the developments of European natural philosophy and aimed at the alignment of Greek philosophy with the scientific attainments of the Enlightenment.

Contents of the collection