Underground Rivers - University of New Mexico

Chapter 5 -- The Crescent
As a reward for curing his ruler's illness, Avicenna (981-1037)
was allowed use of the Royal Library of the Samanids and from
such study, wrote at least 400 works, the most important being
the Book of Healing and the Canon of Medicine. Exceeding its
title, the first was based on Euclid's Elements and dealt with
logic, natural sciences, psychology, mathematics and music.
The second became the most famous volume in the history of
medicine, the source book for Renaissance practitioners.
Although the drawing shows Avicenna getting wisdom from a
muse, most of his knowledge began in the library.
Avicenna considered a question similar to one asked by
Aristotle. If nature continually erodes material from the
mountains to the sea, what then regenerate the continents?
Avicenna concluded that the forces of earthquakes and
volcanoes recreate the land, in the process moving marine
fossils to mountain tops. Presumably seeing a relationship with
the period of the zodiac, he estimated the cycle of erosion and
regeneration to be 36,000 years.
Avicenna’s reiterated Aristotle's picture of river-perforated terrestrial subsurface. When 500 years
later when Europe would at last look at geology, Avicenna’s Aristotelianism would be a point from
which to begin.
We'll note ibn Rushd (Averroes, 1126-1198), a Muslim from Cordoba, not for
a particular pronouncement regarding our underground rivers, but for
recognizing the fallacy in forcing physical insight into a mould of theological
preconception. Averroes sought to integrate the more profound aspects of
Islam with Greek thought, his Grand Commentaries advocating the principle
of twofold truth: religion for the unlettered multitude and philosophy
(Aristotelian tinged with Neo-Platonism) for the chosen.
Lesotho postage stamp, 1999. Averroes translating Aristotle.
As an aside, we'll revisit Raphael's famed "School of Athens," the
painting mentioned in Chapter 2 with reference to its two central
figures, Plato and Aristotle. To the left, looking over shoulder of
Pythagoras, is Averroes.
At least many scholars think the turbaned scholar to be Averroes. The
argument to the contrary rests on the fact that he's grouped with
Pythagoras, not Aristotle himself. Individual identity perhaps matters
little; the overarching point is Raphael's attribution to Arabic
membership in the glorified Athenian tradition.
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