From Homer to Gutenberg: Ancient Greek and Its Afterlives with Dr David Butterfield

David Butterfield is a renowned classicist and Senior Lecturer at the University of Cambridge. His work centres on the critical study and teaching of classical texts. How did the Renaissance revival of Greek language study transform Western Europe's intellectual landscape and shape our modern understanding of the Classics? In this talk, delivered on the island of Samos in Greece in August 2023 as part of Ralston College’s Master’s in the Humanities program, Dr. David Butterfield—Senior Lecturer in Classics at the University of Cambridge—charts how Western Europe came to appreciate the language and culture of ancient Greece as an integral part of its own civilizational inheritance. Dr. Butterfield explains that large-scale technological and cultural changes in late antiquity led to a gradual loss of Greek language proficiency—and a waning interest in the pagan world—among Western European intellectuals during the Early Middle Ages. While the Scholasticism of the High Middle Ages was invigorated by the rediscovery of the Greek philosophical tradition, this encounter was mediated almost entirely through Latin translations. It was only in the Renaissance—when a renewed appreciation of the Hellenic world on its own terms led to a revitalization of Greek language study—that our contemporary conception of Classics was fully established.    —   00:00 Introduction: A Journey through Classical Literature with Dr. Butterfield 04:05 Preservation and Valuation of Greek Culture 06:55 The Evolution of Writing Systems 14:50 Greek Influence on Roman Culture 20:25 The Rise of Christianity and Advances in Book Technology 27:40 Preservation and Transmission of Classical Texts in the Middle Ages 32:50 Arabic Scholars: Preserving Greek Knowledge and Shaping Western Thought 36:00 The Renaissance and Rediscovery of Greek Texts 43:10 Conclusion: The Printing Press and the Spread of Classical Knowledge   —   Authors, Ideas, and Works Mentioned in this Episode:    Homer Magna Graecia  Pythagoras Odyssey Cato the Elder  Third Macedonian War Great Library of Alexandria Great Library of Pergamum Horace, Epistles   Emperor Augustus  Codex Sinaiticus Constantine  Neoplatonism  Plato Charlemagne  Carolingian Renaissance Virgil Ovid Abbasid Caliphate  Avveroës  Avicenna  Thomas Aquinas Petrarch Ottoman Conquest Epicurus  Lucretius  Aristotle  Gutenberg    —   Additional Resources  Dr Stephen Blackwood    Ralston College (including newsletter)   Support a New Beginning    Ralston College Humanities MA   Antigone - Explore Ancient Greece and Rome with Modern Insights Join the conversation and stay updated on our latest content by subscribing to the Ralston College YouTube channel.