Recapping the World History Seminar “Byzantine Astronomy: An Orientalized Modern Research Topic” conducted by Prof. Maria MAVROUDI on 10 March 2022

Prof. Maria MAVROUDI from the Departments of History and Classics, University of California, Berkeley, was invited by the Centre for Comparative and Public History to deliver a lecture entitled “Byzantine Astronomy: An Orientalized Modern Research Topic” on 10 March 2022. Prof. MAVROUDI started the lecture by presenting the history of Byzantine science. Specifically, she examined how the medieval Greek science fared under the narratives on the history of science owed their main ideas to sixteenth- and seventeenth- century thinkers. She approached this research conundrum by comparing with that of modern narratives on ancient, medieval and modern Chinese science. In standardized histories of science, there has been the marginalization of Byzantine science, especially astronomy, which is also one of the most neglected fields in Byzantine studies. She postulated a reappraisal of Byzantine scientific texts to counter the general understanding of Byzantine civilization as predominantly introverted. The lecture concluded by drawing parallels with traditional Chinese science which was previously thought as unsophisticated and highlighting the need to uncover the underappreciated field of Byzantine science.

World History Seminar (2021-22)

Organisers: Centre for Comparative and Public History, Department of History, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
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