Greek Scholars Research Articles

Learning to read ancient Greek at school: where ancient language learning meets contemporary behaviourism

In this paper, an existing behavioral intervention designed to facilitate the acquisition of, among others, reading skills, known as Technology of Teaching (Berens, 2020) is introduced and applied to the acquisition of phonemic decoding of ancient Greek graphemes in the context of the early phases of ancient Greek learning during the first year of Liceo classico (the Italian high school were both Greek and Latin are studied). The Technology of Teaching is mainly based on Precision Teaching and, as such, on the use of the Standard Celeration Chart, whose application to Greek learning will be detailed in these pages.

Leonico Tomeo’s Marginalia: Manuscript and Print in Sixteenth-Century Veneto

Abstract This article centres on a connection between the manuscript reading marks of the Italian humanist Niccolò Leonico Tomeo (Venice 1456-Padua 1531), in the form of curved branches with sprouting leaves, and printed marginal notes found in early editions of his works printed in Venice and Paris. Known generally as a Greek scholar of Aristotle active at the University of Padua, Leonico had also an important role in contemporary intellectual and political debate, especially in relation to his many close English acquaintances. This article examines the occurrences of these unique marginal annotations in manuscript and print, and connects Leonico’s printed works to the printing and intellectual environment in Padua and Venice.

Negotiating Foreign Influence in Fascist Italy: Nicola Festa on Greek Learning in Renaissance Humanism

ABSTRACT This article explores how the classical scholar Nicola Festa (1866–1940) outlined a fascisticized account of Renaissance humanism in a series of lectures later published as his Umanesimo (1935). It specifically examines Festa’s treatment of the role of Byzantine Greek scholars in Italian humanism. Fascism’s preoccupation with romanità and italianità implied a cultural anxiety over indebtedness to cultures regarded as foreign, un-Roman, and un-Italian. Greek language and culture posed a specific challenge as they had traditionally been regarded as both foreign and familiar to Italy’s national culture. This paper analyzes Festa’s response to this friction in his discussion of the Greek presence in Italian humanism, demonstrating how he dissociated the ‘Romans’ of Byzantium from the ‘true’ Italian representatives of humanism. The case study sheds some light on the understudied ways in which non-Italian influences could be negotiated in fascisticized accounts of Italian culture.

Archaeology, Nation, and Race: Confronting the Past, Decolonizing the Future in Greece and Israel by Raphael Greenberg and Yannis Hamilakis

Reviewed by: Archaeology, Nation, and Race: Confronting the Past, Decolonizing the Future in Greece and Israel by Raphael Greenberg and Yannis Hamilakis Dimitri Nakassis (bio) Raphael Greenberg and Yannis Hamilakis, Archaeology, Nation, and Race: Confronting the Past, Decolonizing the Future in Greece and Israel. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2022. Pp. xvi + 218. 25 figures. Paperback $25.99. In a seminal article in 1973, David Clarke declared archaeology’s “loss of innocence,” which he understood as the ongoing process of critical disciplinary definition. Clarke’s paper sketched the radical changes, especially the renewed interest in theory, that then roiled the discipline. Fifty years later, Raphael Greenberg and Yannis Hamilakis present a discussion of a new loss of innocence (161) and a new horizon in archaeology’s development, one that promises to be fertile ground for future exploration. Their aim is to expose archaeology’s “deep roots in colonialism and racism” and “to rebuild archaeology on entirely new foundations” (3). Their method for doing so is not a conventional academic monograph, but rather a series of structured conversations with themselves as interlocutors. Individual chapters focus on archaeology’s colonial origins, its practice in crypto-colonial contexts, the notion of purification, the role of nationalism and race in the development of the discipline, and decolonization. These themes are explored through engagement with the archaeology and politics of the modern nations of Israel and Greece. Clarke (1973, 8) observed that “each archaeology is of its time,” and this book is especially and avowedly so. The influence of the Black Lives Matter movement in particular, but also that of the pandemic, are tangibly felt and indeed highlighted by the authors (3). The book owes its genesis to a seminar taught by the authors at Brown University in the spring of 2020, followed by conversations via video conferencing during the lockdown. It is perhaps unsurprising, therefore, that the main novelty of this book, at least for this reviewer, is its emphasis on race in Mediterranean archaeology. In a Greek context, of course, the issue of race has become especially pressing with the rise of racialized politics and violence against migrants from Africa and Asia, prompting a growing interest in race among Greek scholars (e.g., Avdela et al. 2017). What emerges clearly from that research and the present book is how powerful a lens race is for the study of archaeology’s development: it is critical for analysis not only of the present state of the discipline but also of its history, and it is a sufficiently productive frame that it must be considered on a par with the concept of the nation, to which it has long been subordinated (Hamilakis 2007, 2020). Greenberg and Hamilakis range widely over a broad intellectual terrain. A brief introduction to the authors’ intellectual histories and orientations (chapter 1) sets the stage for an engaging discussion in chapter 2 about the origins and historical trajectories of Greek and Israeli archaeologies. [End Page 149] Crypto-colonialism—that fertile concept first articulated by Michael Herzfeld (2002)—is the subject of chapter 3, which provides a productive lens for comparison of the Greek and Israeli cases and their “superimposed colonialisms” (58). Chapter 4 focuses on archaeology as purification, from the practice of removing material traces and communities seen as out of place to the archaeological desire for purity of categories (e.g., the hard boundaries between chronological periods). Race is the analytical focus of chapter 5, which concludes with a detailed discussion of archaeogenetic studies and the ways that they re-inscribe racial categories. The penultimate chapter (chapter 6) meditates on decolonization, understood not simply as an academic endeavor but as a broad political project. A short conclusion (chapter 7) summarizes the aims of the volume. This is an important book that should have a significant impact on archaeology, for it sets an ambitious agenda for the future of the discipline. Greenberg and Hamilakis’s goal is nothing less than an emancipatory archaeology with the potential to liberate us all from the coloniality that defines our relationship with the past and present (171). Greece and Israel are potent sites for such an undertaking, both because of the dense entanglement of the ancient...

The Virgin Mary in Byzantium, c.400–1000: Hymns, Homilies and Hagiography. By Mary B. Cunningham

Mary Cunningham is part of the firmament of British Byzantine studies, the author of many studies mostly concerned with Byzantine literature, not least hagiography and homiletics, as well as being unstinting in the humdrum tasks involved in societies and conferences; an accomplished Greek scholar, she has willingly devoted herself to the gruelling task of translation for many years now. From the beginning of her scholarly activity, devotion to Mary, the Mother of God, has been a frequent focus of her activity, which culminates in the book under review, a study of the Virgin Mother of God in Byzantium, early and middle, that is, from the fifth to the tenth centuries, a period that has been understood generously. It focuses on the literary evidence from the period—‘hymns, homilies and hagiography’, as her subtitle has it—and will prove indispensable for anyone wanting to understand the growth of devotion to the Mother of God and the forms that it took in this crucial period—crucial, not just for later Byzantium and for the Orthodox Churches that have their origin there, but for the Latin West, and indeed for Christianity further East, all of which owe debts to the formative period of Byzantine Christianity. As well as her linguistic and literary skills, she brings to this book an unparalleled knowledge of the rapidly expanding scholarly literature.

The beginnings of Byzantine musicology in Serbia: Achievements and impasses

The paper presents the circumstances in which musicological medievalism emerged in Serbia after the Second World War as a separate discipline within the research projects of the newly founded Institute of Musicology of the Serbian Academy of Sciences. It focuses on the contributions of three first musicologists medievalists: Milos Velimirovic, Stojan Lazarevic and Dimitrije Stefanovic. It outlines the conditions under which these researchers adopted the methodological principles of the Western musicological school - Monumenta Musicae Byzantinae - which were current at the time but soon became outdated. In light of the disagreements among Western and Greek scholars regarding the approach to the interpretation of the development of neumatic notation immediately before and after the fall of Byzantium, the paper also shows the personal scholarly credo and interests of certain Serbian researchers, as well as their (un)willingness to adopt and even present new knowledge and trends to the wider academic community.

SEMANTICS OF ADVERBS IN THE LANGUAGE SYSTEM

It is the grouping of words that make up the vocabulary of the language on the basis of their meaning, form, and functions. It is considered parts of speech that words form various groups according to their semantic, morphological, and syntactic signs. In modern linguistics, parts of speech are classified into various: main (autocemantic) parts of speech: noun, adjective, numeral, pronoun, verb, adverb; auxiliary (synsemantic) parts of speech: conjunction, particle; exclamation, imitative, and vocative words. The history of training on parts of speech is very ancient. According to Aflatun, according to ancient Greek scholars, who distinguished the verb from the names back in the fifth century BC, the sentence was corrected as a result of the connection of these names with the verbs. In Alexandrian period grammars, the amount of parts of speech has been increased to eight (name, verb, verb adjective, article, pronoun, adverb, affix, conjunction). In Alexandrian grammars, they have tried to interpret parts of speech morphologically rather than syntactically. In the linguistics of ancient times, the classification of parts of speech was actually subordinated to logic: parts of speech were identified with members of the sentence, which were considered equal to members of the sentence, hence the logical categories. However, at least in part in that classification, it was differentiated based on the presence of grammatical forms and meanings. Until the middle of the XIX century, parts of speech in linguistics were interpreted as a logical grammatical category. In the nineteenth century, linguistics in general, especially the field of morphology, developed a lot. During this period, many and various languages are studied, and as a result, the question arises: on the basis of what criteria it is necessary to classify parts of speech, are there differences in parts of speech in different languages, if so, what are they? At that time, the morphological principle was taken as the main criterion for parts of speech. Such a formal-morphological approach to the problem of parts of speech. It is characteristic of Jespersen’s research. He considered parts of speech to be “formal groups of words”, taking as the main criterion whether they have a verbal form or not. In this respect, he grouped the words as follows: words that are spoken, words that are conjugated, words that are not spoken, and words that are not conjugated.

Translating Theory into Technology

Paul Cartledge describes how the discovery of the Antikythera mechanism has challenged long-held views about the ability of Greek scholars in antiquity to translate theory into technology.

The Interaction between Hellenic and Persian Pharmacology: What's the output?

Background: Pharmacology has always been of utmost significance to Persian and Hellenic ancient scientists and presented their viewpoints in medical texts. The aim is to assess the interaction between Hellenic and Persian pharmacologists and the resulting output. Methods: Using descriptive-analytical method, primary Persian sources written by scholars such as Raban Tabari, Rhazes, Avicenna, and Jorjani, and also the works by prominent Greek scholars including Theophrastus, Hippocrates, Dioscorides, and Galen were searched using selected keywords, based on inclusion and exclusion critera, without time limit in domestic and foreign databases. Finally, the PRISMA diagram was drawn. Results: Studies show that Persian and Greek doctors have tried to develop the concepts of pharmacology and its applications interactively. In this research, pharmacology in Persian and Greek medical traditions is studied, and their mutual contributions are depicted. The concepts of medicine and pharmacology in Greek and Persian medicine are first analyzed. The reciprocal impacts of these two schools of pharmacology are explored, and at the end, the Persian scholars who have cited Greek scholars in their works are introduced. Conclusion: With the expansion of territories, ancient theories from the farthest lands entered the realm, introducing new drugs and ideas, which by the critical approach of the Persian scholars were sometimes modified and developed.

A Brief History of Liberal Education in Ancient and Medieval Europe－Focusing on the Formation and Evolution of Liberal Arts

This paper examined the history of liberal education in ancient and medieval Europe, focusing on the formation and evolution of liberal arts using materials concerning the history of education, history of university, history of philosophy, and history of science. The elementary form of liberal education emerged at Greece in the fourth century BC. The philosophers’ tradition and the orators’ tradition made two approaches to liberal education. Greek scholarship was accepted in the form of encyclopedic publications in the Roman era, and <i>Disciplinarium libri novem</i>, the first work which contained the idea of liberal arts, was written in the first century BC. In the early medieval ages, so called dark ages, secular scholarship maintained its existence through the medium of liberal arts. In the fifth century, liberal arts became actualized into the seven liberal arts through <i>De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii</i>. Since the sixth century, the seven liberal arts were divided into trivium and quadrivium. In the Renaissance of the twelfth century, ancient writings were extensively translated including Aristotelian works, and the attempt to relate Greek philosophies and the seven liberal arts was tried. Circa 1250, some universities were set up in the major cities of Europe, and medieval universities were mostly organized with the faculties of arts, theology, law, and medicine. Since the late thirteenth century, the arts faculty extended the scope of liberal arts by adding three philosophies to the existing seven liberal arts: natural philosophy, metaphysics and ethics. Based on the above examination, this paper showed that the scope of liberal arts was not fixed but continuously changed, and that humanities and science were not separated in ancient and medieval Europe.

ANCIENT ORIGINS OF THE METHODOLOGY OF MODERN EVIDENCE LAW

The course towards Ukraine's European integration provides for the harmonisation of national and European law, starting with the cultural and traditional foundations of the latter, laid down in the era of antiquity. In addition, according to the analysis of current issues in the field of modern evidence law, the main sources of methodological contradictions in approaches to its solution go back to their historical roots in this particular era. Accordingly, it seems appropriate to study the ancient origins of both the methodology of legal argumentation itself and the modern technique of its effective application. Moreover, these issues are still insufficiently investigated. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to identify those logical foundations of evidentiary reasoning that are the property of ancient thought and can be effectively used in the development of modern methods of legal evidence. Hermeneutical and comparative analysis methods were used to critically evaluate classical and modern methodological concepts in the field of evidence law, and to identify fundamental differences in the interpretation of goals, means, and methodological approaches to the construction of evidentiary procedures. When searching for ways to resolve contradictions between alternative methodological paradigms, each of which reveals both its own constructive points and some functional limitations, the method of dialectical synthesis is applied, which provides for rational integration of oppositely oriented approaches based on the principles of their relevant involvement and complementarity. Methods of deductive and logical analysis, as well as inductive generalisation, probabilistic and statistical estimates, and analogy were used to substantiate the results and formulate the conclusions of the study. Scientific originality. It is proved that the appeal to the logical and methodological foundations of rational thinking, formulated and systematised by ancient Greek scholars and technically used in the system of Roman law, opens up wide opportunities in terms of solving a number of topical problems of modern theory and practice of legal evidence. To solve the actual problems of the modern methodology of evidence law, it is advisable to retrospectively analyse its previous historical development, since this makes possible, first, to find out the essential causes of such problems from their very origins. Second, the proposed approach, being aimed at studying the logical and methodological foundations of the theory of legal argumentation, provides for the search for solutions to these problems at a fundamental level. In particular, turning to ancient sources of proof methodology will help solve many debatable issues of its modern development, among which the dilemma of the deductivist or probabilistic and statistical paradigm, the problem of criteria for the sufficiency of evidence, etc., are distinguished. The use of argumentative strategies based on basic logical criteria of rationality and evidence will help increase the degree of objectivity in the practice of making legal decisions, being an effective means of countering subjectivism in the course of their development

International Relations Scholarship in Greece

Abstract Drawing on Felix Grenier’s ‘Reflexive Studies on ir’ schema, this article offers a reconstruction of the search for a disciplinary identity in Greece, mainly through a combination of the geo-epistemic and historiographical perspectives. It begins with an overview of the field’s history and pre-history, followed by a section on the teaching and research framework and is then followed by a section emphasizing the state and status of theory. Since the 1980s, an increasing expansion in Greek ir has been signalled by a noticeable wave of departments devoted to international or regional studies as well as of research institutes. Thus, most of the relevant literature on ir is still focused on regional and thematic aspects of Greece’s foreign relations, with a fairly marginal theoretical impact. Despite theoretical arguments proposed by some Greek scholars on anarchy and sovereignty, a distinct ‘Greek/Hellenic’ school or approach of ir is hardly forthcoming.

Franco Montanari (Ed.), History of Ancient Greek Scholarship. From the Beginnings to the End of the Byzantine Age. Leiden, Brill 2020

Article Franco Montanari (Ed.), History of Ancient Greek Scholarship. From the Beginnings to the End of the Byzantine Age. Leiden, Brill 2020 was published on April 1, 2022 in the journal Historische Zeitschrift (volume 314, issue 2).

Византийская философия в современной греческой истории философии

The article summarizes the main achievements of the historical and philosophical thought of Greece (XX-XXI centuries) in the study of Byzantine philosophy. Modern Greek researchers make a significant contribution to the formation of a theoretical and methodological basis for the study of Byzantine philosophy. Based on this basis, we can discover the origins, essential features and characteristic antinomies of Byzantine philosophy. The article examines the generalizing works of Greek scientists, in which Byzantine philosophy is presented as a holistic phenomenon. Greek scholars perceive Byzantine philosophy as an integral part of the history of national philosophical thought. Therefore, the position of modern Greek thinkers is interesting and has a special heuristic value

Philip Melanchthon's Humanist Politics: Greek Scholarship in a Time of Confessional Crisis

ABSTRACT This article examines how Philip Melanchthon utilized classical Greek texts in the confessional conflicts of the Reformation. In 1521, Melanchthon published a Greek edition of Aristophanes’ Clouds as a critique of sophistry, and in 1527 he produced a Latin translation of Demosthenes’ speeches Against Aristogeiton as a rebuke of Johann Agricola's antinomianism. In the 1540s, when the Reformation came under political pressure from the Holy Roman Empire, Melanchthon used a 1540 edition of Xenophon to plead for political aid from the French crown and a 1547 edition of Demosthenes to critique Charles V's aggression. Finally, in 1548, as Melanchthon came under fire from Catholics and Gnesio-Lutherans, he turned to Athenian oratory to defend himself in the Augsburg Interim controversy. As these episodes show, Melanchthon's Greek scholarship was intimately connected with his career as a reformer, and Greek proved to be a powerful tool in addressing doctrinal controversy and political conflict.

Evolution of the fabric of cardiovascular science: Saga of an enduring process of refinement

BackgroundThe core elements of cardiovascular science have been established by scholarly pursuits of numerous scientists across centuries. In this article, we have tried to trace the evolutionary journey of cardiovascular science from a rudimentary form in ancient period to a robust scientific discipline in modern times. MethodsA literature search of relevant, peer-reviewed, published articles was undertaken from indexed databases (Medline & Pubmed, Scopus, Embase, CINAHL Plus, Web of Science and Google Scholar). ResultsCardiovascular science has its roots in antiquity, when Greek scholars mostly relied on philosophical thoughts and ancient texts. This was followed by addition of few structural details to the theory of circulation by Galen based on animal dissection. Arab scholar Ibn al–Nafis provided new insights regarding circulation pathway in humans. Nevertheless, an erroneous concept prevailed into the onset of European Renaissance. Even with legalization of human dissection, little headway could be made till sixteenth century due to persistent reliance of anatomists on ancient Galenic principles. During seventeenth century, the circulatory pathway (as we know it today) was established due to significant contributions from scholars like Harvey and Malpighi. Their efforts were based on findings from experiments and logical conclusions. Eighteenth century witnessed the emergence of autopsy based methods which led to valuable contributions from Vieussens, Thebesius, Morgagni and Hunter regarding normal and pathologic anatomy of cardiovascular system. With structural details mostly established, researchers during nineteenth century focussed on innovations in diagnostic methods based on human experiments. Further development of advanced human experiment models during twentieth century led to emergence of contemporary treatment methods for various cardiac conditions. In the twenty-first century, cardiovascular science is undergoing comprehensive progress at an exponential rate due to technological advances. ConclusionThe evolutionary journey of cardiovascular science as a discipline across centuries has been intriguing and eventful.

Defensible endowments: comparing different approaches in English and ancient Roman law

Abstract Whilst the parallels between ancient Roman fideicommissa and English trusts are well-documented, the author argues that insufficient attention has been given to their fundamental differences. This is particularly evident in the different methodologies employed by each system to protect endowments from potential attack by impatient beneficiaries. Accordingly, this article explores how English jurisprudence relied upon conditional terms—possibly informed by ancient Greek and Neoplatonic scholarship—to achieve defensibility and security for English trusts in ways that differ significantly from the Roman scheme. By doing so, this article raises important new questions about how English law has placed boundaries upon valid conditionality.

Sainthood and Authority in Early Islam: Al-?ak?m al-Tirmidh?’s Theory of wil?ya and the Reenvisioning of the Sunn? Caliphate (By Aiyub Palmer)

Reviewed by: Sainthood and Authority in Early Islam: Al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī's Theory of wilāya and the Reenvisioning of the Sunnī Caliphate by Aiyub Palmer Atif Khalil (bio) Sainthood and Authority in Early Islam: Al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī's Theory of wilāya and the Reenvisioning of the Sunnī Caliphate Aiyub Palmer Leiden: Brill, 2019. 219 Pages. In 'Aṭṭār's Tadhkirat al-awliyā', he recounts a story from al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī's (d. 907–912 CE) youth. Desirous of setting out in search of knowledge, as was the custom of the day for serious students, he was held back by the responsibility he felt towards his mother, whose old age and illness, along with the death of his father, had put her in a position of dependency and need. One day, overcome by sadness at the obstacles that stood in the way of ever becoming a scholar, he prayed at a local cemetery, "Alas! I am left an illiterate and uncultured man. My companions will be returning very soon after completing their education." No sooner did he utter these words that the immortal guide Khiḍr appeared, asked him why he wept, and then, on learning of his predicament, proceeded to teach him in such a way that he soon came to surpass his peers.1 Regardless of what one may make of the historicity of the tale ('Aṭṭār frequently gave himself poetic license to inspire his readers), it reveals at least two features of medieval Sufi piety. The first was the value placed on receiving knowledge directly from Khiḍr, identified by much of tradition as the enigmatic interlocutor of Moses in the Qur'ān, and the recipient of a special "knowledge from on high" or 'ilm ladunnī [End Page 88] of which even the Israelite prophet was unaware. The second feature was that the privileged relationship he enjoyed with Khiḍr was made possible, to quote his own words, "because I pleased my mother."2 The divine gift for which he was singled out, a response to his sacrifice, calls to mind the life-story of the Yemeni Uways al-Qaranī, whose filial piety towards his own elderly mother, for whom he was the sole care-giver, prevented him from travelling to Medina to be with the Prophet. And yet his sanctity was such, at least according to the hadith literature, that the companions would later be instructed by the Prophet, if they ever met him, to request from him a prayer of forgiveness.3 In the case of Tirmidhī, we are informed by Hujwīrī in the Kashf al-maḥjūb that he reached such heights of knowledge that even Khiḍr would seek him out for it.4 While the precise details of Tirmidhī's life remain unclear, especially once we step outside the realm of hagiography, we do know more about him than most other figures from the formative period of Islamic mysticism, many of whose lives are cloaked in obscurity. Part of this, no doubt, is because he left us a short autobiography, the Buduww sha'n (the style and content of which, incidentally, remind us in many ways of Ghazālī's Munqidh min al-ḍalāl).5 We know that Tirmidhī was born during the reign of the 'Abbāsid caliph and patron of Greek learning al-Ma'mūn (d. 833 CE). The city of his birth (Tirmidh) is located in the southern region of modern Uzbekistan, just north of Afghanistan. By the end of the 9th century, it was home to anywhere between thirty and forty thousand inhabitants. His father was a scholar, and the family traced its lineage back to the Arabs who settled in the region in the wake of the early Muslim conquests. From his autobiography, where he recounts the circumstances surrounding his entry into the mystical path, we also learn that a major turning point in his life came after stumbling across a book by Antākī (a companion of Muḥāsibī) which taught him the importance of disciplining the soul. This was following a pilgrimage to Mecca where he earnestly prayed for divine direction. His wife...

Form, Event, Theatre: Carlo Diano, Form and Event. Principles for an Interpretation of the Greek World, Translated by Timothy C. Campbell and Lia Turtas, Introduction by Jacques Lezra, New York: Fordham University Press 2020, pp. 128.

In 1952, Carlo Diano, then newly appointed professor of Greek literature at the University of Padua, brought a short essay entitled Form and Event to the attention of the world of Greek scholars. Already translated into French, Spanish and Modern Greek, this essay has been translated into English by T.C. Campbell and L. Turtas, with an “Introduction” by J. Lezra. Also with reference to Diano’s subsequent production as a scholar and translator of Greek theatrical texts, this note aims to make evident the close relations that link Diano’s phenomenology of Greek culture and Greek tragedy. Keywords: Carlo Diano; Greek tragedy; phenomenology; interpretations of Greek culture

Arab-Islamic or Greek Dialectics? Revisiting the Origins and Development of Jadal

ABSTRACT This article presents a survey of the development of the theory and practice of jadal (disputation, dialectics) and, more importantly, examines various accounts of jadal development by addressing the issue of its origins and the extent of Greek influence on its formation and advancement. The main argument set out in this article is that dialectical practices in pre-Islamic Arabia, early Islamic tradition and qur’anic discourse, as well as Greek dialectical scholarship, have contributed significantly to the formation and development of jadal theory. If the Arab-Islamic sources provide Arab-Islamic jadal raw materials, the Greek sources shape the structural and systematic formation for the fully systematized theory of jadal in Islamic scholarship. This description of Arab-Islamic and Greek contributions to the advancement of jadal theory in the medieval period challenges the current understanding. Jadal as a dialectical art is neither solely Islamic nor solely Greek, as some scholars maintain. Rather, both have played distinct roles and contributed to its development.