Lecture 1: From camels to stars

I have to admit that I knew I would enjoy Professor Gearson’s lessons as soon as I saw him quote parts of a poem (I Keep Six Honest Serving Men) by R. Kipling. In that beautiful poem, Kipling talks about the importance of the question words: what, why, when, how, where, and who. Professor Gearson then proceeds to structure his first lesson in this series around these questions. Below, I will post the questions and summarize the professor’s answers. What is a “golden age”? What is the Islamic Golden Age? The Ancient Greeks were the first to use the term “golden age” to mark a period in time. In their case, this term was used in a mythological aspect, to mark a period of the mythological past, when, according to them, humans were in complete peace with gods. In...

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