Severus Sebokht: Bridge between Indian and Arab
Science
by Father Dale A. Johnson
Syriac Christians needed an astronomical based mathematics to compute the date of Easter. Their work in these areas in later centuries formed the basis of calculations for Moslems who needed to determine the hours of prayer. Much of this work was difficult and nearly impossible until advancements were made by combining the work of Indian mathematicians and Greek philosophers. Syriac scholars were in a unique position both geographically and linguistically to merge the mathematical sciences of the East and West and assist in the advancement of astronomically based mathematics that are often credited to the Arab/Islamic world of the 8th and 9th centuries. But it was a particular Syriac Bishop who was the true genius and interface between Indian and Greek sciences.
Severus Sebokht lived in the 7th century A.D. and he was an abbot of a monastery in Nisibis in his early life. Later he was made Bishop of Kenneserin south of Aleppo in Syria where he spent the remainder of his days. Severus was a man of extraordinary intellect and accomplishment. He was without doubt a leading expert on the Greek works of Ptolemy. He was more than likely the translator from Persian to Syriac of the works of Paul the Persian. This is quite likely as his surname, Sebokht, is Persian. Yet, he identified himself intellectually and culturally as a Syrian. He wrote on the works of Aristotle (638), the astrolobe (650), the constellations (661), meterology, the birth of Christ (662), and how to calculate Easter (665).
Severus does not slavishly translate ancient Greek works, but he makes his own scientific contributions. For example, he does not believe that solar eclipses are caused by a dragon named Attila passing in front of the sun but in fact eclipses are natural celestial
phenomenon. He embraces astronomy but rejects astrology.
The first evidence outside India that the knowledge of Indian numerals were moving west comes from a source which predates the rise of Islam. In 662 AD Severus Sebokht, who by this time lived in Keneserin on the Euphrates river, wrote:-
I will omit all discussion of the science of the Indians, ... , of their subtle discoveries in astronomy, discoveries that are more ingenious than those of the Greeks and the Babylonians, and of their valuable methods of calculation which surpass description. I wish only to say that this computation is done by means of nine signs. If those who believe, because they speak Greek, that they have arrived at the limits of science, would read the Indian texts, they would be convinced, even if a little late in the day, that there are others who know something of value.
This passage clearly indicates that knowledge of the Indian number system was known in the Arab world in the seventh century. Severus Sebokht as a Christian bishop would have been interested in calculating the date of Easter. This may have encouraged him to find out about the astronomy works of the Indians and in these, of course, he would find the arithmetic of the nine symbols.
Knowledge of the skies came from several major episodes of translation. The first is the Greek works, which were translated into Latin. The second episode is the transfer of Greek texts into Syriac, on their way into Arabic. "These texts, in considerable numbers, had been gradually transferred eastward during the fifth and sixth centuries A.D., in part by the harassing influence of the orthodox Byzantine Church against Nestorian and, to a lesser extent, Monophysite teachers and intellectuals". Members of these communities were forced to migrate to the fringes of the Byzantine empire. Consequently their information was transferred to Persia (Syria and Iraq). Here, at certain schools, the information was studied, copied, commented upon and eventually translated as texts of Hellenistic knowledge.
Severus Sebokht was one of the recipients of ancient Greek knowledge. Yet, he praised Hindu inventors as discoverers of things more ingenious than those of the Greeks. Earlier, in the late 4th or early 5th century, the anonymous Hindu author of an astronomical handbook, the
Surya Siddhanta, had tabulated the sine function (unknown in Greece) for every 3 3/4° of arc from 3 3/4° to 90°. Severus had the benefit of learning the sciences of both the East and West.
By the ninth century the Syriac language became the vehicle for the transmission of knowledge from the Hellenistic tradition into Arabic. Once we have an awareness of the significance and change that took place, it makes sense to draw a distinction between "Greek science" and "science in Greek". Severus did not like the Greeks of his day. He considered them theological oppressors. But Severus admired the work of the ancient Greek philosophers and scientists. The effect of translation of Greek into the Syriac language was that the language was partially affected in respect of vocabulary, syntax, and grammar. This situation worked to the benefit of the Syriac language as texts of theological writing and poetry were later translated into Greek. It placed the Syriac Christian culture in a special position as a nexus between Greek learning and Arab science.
