Re-inventions: Essays on Hellenistic and Early Roman Science

Judith E. Franchuk is a librarian in the Cameron Library at the
University of Alberta.

Re-inventions is an interesting collection of scholarly articles on
Greco-Roman science and philosophy from the period 300 BCE to 100 CE.
The title reflects the continuous redefinition of knowledge that
resulted from the shifting meanings and perspectives within scientific
disciplines.

Each article emphasizes the great diversity of perspectives that
informed work within science and philosophy in this period. Lloyd’s
paper challenges readers to look at the issues of boundaries in
knowledge through a comparison of shared aspects found within the
science and philosophy of the ancient Greeks and Chinese. Tyberg
demonstrates how Hero of Alexandria combined traditions of theoretical
and practical mathematics and in doing so revealed their complementary
nature. Allen compares the Epicurean use of experience with Hellenistic
empiricist traditions as a way to knowing. Lang comments on the
cross-cultural exchange of medical practices and perceptions that took
place between Greeks and Egyptians at a time when “Greekness” was
powerful in Egypt and cultural identity was not obvious.

Readers of the journal Apeiron will be familiar with these authors and
will enjoy this book. Readers not familiar with Apeiron or the work of
the contributors will delight in the fresh perspectives presented in the
collection.