Excerpt:
Explore the fascinating history of the human endeavor to organize our lives in accordance with the sun and stars.
Explore the fascinating history of the human endeavor to organize our lives in accordance with the sun and stars.
Civilizations as early as the Chaldean in southwestern Asia were among the first to have a belief in plants that never existed, and the practice continued well beyond the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Originally, this was done to disperse the mystery surrounding certain seemingly-miraculous events and to symbolically embody in a physical form various aspects - wealth, happiness, fertility, illness, etc. Later, people began to invent "nonsense plants" to enliven the tale of an otherwise boring voyage, and with the invention of the printed book, to entertain readers who loved to believe in such fables. Even spices, which were an important element of Medieval food, commerce, trade, & society, were given exotic & incredible backgrounds. The fabulous trees and fauna discussed here are just a small example of the many fantastic plants our medieval forebears believed in. As will be evident, trees, because of their longevity and immensity, have been foremost among the plants considered sacred, mystic, or mythical.
This brief site is a modern explanation of medieval botanical and medical lore. The works of early Greek botanists such as Dioscorides formed a foundation for medieval folk remedies and legends. This site hosts seven pages about seven legendary plants which provide some insight into pre-scientific era botany. Though not created for a scholarly audience, the site provides a few interesting insights into medieval botany.
The folowing outline of the history of astronomy has been compiled based on materials found in The Picture History of Astronomy by P. Moore , The Cambridge Atlas of Astronomy, Astronomia z Astrofizyka (Astronomy and Astrophisics) by J.M. Kreiner and Encarta by Microsoft®
J.Paul Getty Museum
The mission of the J. Paul Getty Museum is to delight, inspire, and educate a diverse public through the collection, preservation, exhibition and interpretation of works of art of the highest quality.
The Labyrinth provides free, organized access to electronic resources in medieval studies through a World Wide Web server at Georgetown University. The Labyrinth's easy-to-use menus and links provide connections to databases, services, texts, and images on other servers around the world. Each user will be able to find an Ariadne's thread through the maze of information on the Web
The Florida Museum of Natural History, located at the University of Florida, is Florida's state museum of natural history, dedicated to understanding and preserving biological diversity and cultural heritage.
Aesthetics
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Environmental Philosophy
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Philosophy of Feminism
History and Philosophy of Mathematics
History and Philosophy of Science and Technology
Logic
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Bibliotheca Latina
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Epistulae electronicae
This page is a subset of texts derived from the three major online Sourcebooks listed below. For more contextual information, for instance about the Islamic world, check out these web sites.
Internet Ancient History Sourcebook
Internet Medieval Sourcebook
Internet Modern History Sourcebook
Hundreds of important texts in the history of science are excerpted at this site and some links include full text versions. Virtually every subject in science is represented. Categories are broken down into historical eras and some geographical areas (i.e. China). Though many of the excerpts provide a brief insight into the work, some excerpts like Voltaire's letter on Newton are more comprehensive and therefore more useful. The lack of a search engine is made up for by the clean and useful navigation and anchor tags, leading from the index to more specific subjects. Paul Halsall's site is used by history professors as a handy primary text archive for undergraduate classes.
Historical Development of Earth Rotation Knowledge
The daily rotation of the earth, which causes the distinction between day and night, has been used as the basis for time reckoning for thousands of years.