Where to find old Greek and Roman writings

I've been writing a lot about the ancient Greeks, but where am I getting these documents. The library, of course, is a great reference, but most ancient Greek and Roman writings are available online, at least in an old translation that is out of copyright protection.

Here are some excellent sources for old Greek and Roman documents:

• The Perseus Digital Library
• LacusCurtius
• Library of Ancient Texts Online
• Diogenes Laertius's Lives of the Eminent Philosophers
• Peithô's Web
• Demonax Hellenic Library

And if you have access to the new Digital  Loeb Classical Library online, take advantage of it! Loeb is the main source for Greek and Roman writings. The Perseus Digital Library is basically a compilation of out of copyright Loeb books.

While Wikipedia is certainly an excellent source for some basic information about all of the people that you are reading about, the classic Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography is even better. In fact, that's probably where a lot of the information on Wikipedia for the ancient Greeks comes from.

We'll talk more about biographical dictionaries and other great sources for learning about polymaths as we start talking more about the Real Polymaths.

the early Greeks on polymathy, part 1

We’ve now discussed Heraclitus to death here. But what did the other Greeks think about polymathy? It turns out that lots of them had an opinion, although it’s still pretty unclear as to exactly what they meant by it.

Some of them were in favor of it.

For example, Hesiod, one of Heraclitus’s polymaths, said, “Far best is he who knows all things himself.”

Solon, the first great Athenian politician and one of the famed Seven Sages of Greece, was known for having said that “he grew old ever learning many things.” You may have heard of the term “solon.” It is a somewhat disused term for a local politician.

And Cleobulus, another of the Seven Sages, said, “Know many things rather than know nothing.”

Others were against it. Aeschylus, one of the great early Greek playwrights, wrote, “Not he who knows many things is wise, but he who knows what is profitable.”

Hippo of Samos, an early Greek philosopher, was quoted as having said, “Nothing is more empty than much learning (polymathy) – nothing more vain and useless."

And the famed pre-Socratic philosopher Democritus had a lot to say on the subject:

• “Many who have much learning (polymathy) have no intelligence.”
• “One should cultivate much intelligence (or an understanding of many things), not much learning (polymathy).”
• “Do not wish to learn everything, lest you become ignorant in everything.”

modern opinions on Heraclitus, part 2

Here are some more modern interpretations of Heraclitus.

Philosophy professor Herbert Granger stressed the concept of polymaths getting much of their learning from books, i.e., “secondhand learning.”

Professor Carl Huffman emphasized Heraclitus’s scorn for the polymath and for those who do not investigate things for themselves. To Heraclitus, polymathy came from practicing historie, which was ancient Greek for inquiry (i.e., asking others). Thus, Huffman translated polymathy as “a bunch of things learnt from others” in an attempt to show Heraclitus’s “sarcastic reference” to the lack of a unified understanding of the world that the histor (i.e., the inquirer) gets from practicing polymathy.

And professor Marek Węcowski went in a different direction entirely, classifying polymathy as a “general disposition of mind or a certain way of thinking.”

The modern commentators thus diverge greatly. What is the modern lay person to make of all this? After all, Heraclitus wasn’t writing scholarly papers; he was speaking to the ordinary Greek. His words are important and should still have meaning for us. It is unfortunate that we have to wade through a bunch of academic articles just to understand them today.

This is why at least some context is important. Heraclitus accused four specific people of polymathy, and we have seen that they had a pretty broad set of accomplishments.

So, in order to avoid getting bogged down in too much detail, we’ll have to go with context over definition to figure out Heraclitus. As far as we are concerned, when Heraclitus talked about polymathy, he meant people who knew an awful lot of stuff and/or people who had mastered multiple disciplines. This certainly wouldn’t cut it in the scholarly world, but we’re just lay people trying to understand another lay person from 2500 years ago.

modern opinions on Heraclitus

We’ve talked about Heraclitus having invented the word polymathy, but we don’t know precisely what he meant. That is why we are having this investigation. How much knowledge is polymathic knowledge?!

If you read the academic journals, you will see that modern interpretations of Heraclitus’s use of the word polymathy are inconsistent. Actually, they’re not just inconsistent; they’re all over the place.

For example, some scholars translated it quite broadly as “learning many things,” “the possession of a huge reservoir of information,” or “a knowledge embracing the greatest possible number of bodies of knowledge.”

That sounds pretty reasonable. Polymathy certainly sounds like it should mean a whole lot of knowledge.

But, on the other hand, the famed classicist W.K.C. Guthrie defined it as “learning such as might be obtained from a study of the poets, who in Greece were the recognized teachers of men in theology, morals and other matters including arts and crafts.” You may remember that I mentioned that the other day.

And the philosopher and historian Jonathan Barnes has argued that, because the Greek manthanein (which is where polymathy comes from) meant “to learn from another,” polymathy to Heraclitus referred to getting “a large stock of opinions from other men.” Thus, to Barnes, polymathy was not necessarily much knowledge, but many opinions.

Heraclitus was obviously a really important guy, so a lot of people have studied him over the years. We’ve just looked at a couple of these opinions, and already they’re starting to get pretty different.

We’ll look at some more modern opinions of Heraclitus later.

more on Asimov - the Dewey Decimal System and the Library of Congress classification

As I mentioned yesterday, based on the Isaac Asimov Home Page’s book listings, Asimov wrote books in 86 out of the 908 categories of the Dewey Decimal System and 49 out of the 226 categories of the Library of Congress classification. These are unbelievable feats, and it’s worth looking at the specifics to see how broad his knowledge was.

Isaac Asimov tackles the Dewey Decimal System

001	338	510	535	567	612	794	823	944
031	363	512	537	570	617	808	902	949
033	372	513	539	573	621	809	910	956
081	389	520	540	574	623	811	919	970
213	422	522	546	575	628	813	925	973
220	500	523	547	576	629	814	932	998
222	501	525	550	577	639	817	936
301	504	529	551	581	676	818	937
303	508	530	553	591	759	821	938
333	509	531	566	611	782	822	942

Asimov and the Library of Congress classification

AC	DA	DT	GF	PN	QA	QH	QR	TA	TN
AG	DC	E	GN	PR	QB	QK	RA	TD	TP
BS	DF	G	ML	PS	QC	QL	RD	TJ	TS
CB	DG	GB	ND	PZ	QD	QM	RE	TK	VM
D	DS	GC	PE	Q	QE	QP	RK	TL

I can’t even imagine who the second place finisher in each category is.