(June 23, 2015 at 6:13 pm)abaris Wrote:(June 23, 2015 at 6:10 pm)Metis Wrote: The Catholic Church did preserve a few select texts that didn't offend it's sensibilities
But you are aware that the muslim world did much more in preserving ancient texts? They weren't as shy about dogmas as their christian contemporaries.
Oh absolutely. They sucked it all up, and living right next to Byzantium and eventually in it they had direct access to materials Western Europe simply didn't.
I can't say all Christians were like this though Abaris, before the Muslims got involved it was the Greek Orthodox who preserved the Classics and fostered the scholarship around them. Indeed, in Byzantium they never lost Homer, Aristophanes or any of the others that wouldn't be heard again in Italy for well over a thousand years.