R. A. Simonov

By this author

Conference on «Calendar-chronological culture»

Issue 2 from 01.06.2007

95 0

The iatroscientific stage of Russian scientific knowledge, 1600-1800

Issue 1 from 01.03.2007

In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, a renaissance of interest in ancient culture, including esoterica, took place in Western Europe. The iatroscientiflc stage (from the Greek, «iatros», or doctor) was characterized by the appearance of a series of trends - such as iatrochemistry, iatromathematics, and iatrophysics -that developed in the medical faculties of universities. These approaches played an important transitional role in the shift toward modern science. It was not known until recently that interest in iatroscience also existed in Russia from the epoch of Ivan the Terrible until the time of Peter the Great. The recent discovery of materials on iatromathematics includes prognosticating tablets, which were used in Russia from the end of the fifteenth century to the beginning of the sixteenth century. Their application for medical purposes is confirmed by B. N. Morozov's recent finding of a codicil in an herbal from 1534, concerning auspicious days for cures. The note was added most likely in 1570 by the physician-astrologer Bomelius, the czar's doctor. The tradition of iatromathematical tablets was also reflected in the much later publication of the «Bruce calendar» at the beginning of the eighteenth century.

109 0

Whence came arithmetic in Russia: a predecessor of Kirik of Novgorod, hieromonk Isaakii

Issue 1 from 01.03.2006

In 2000, the Novgorod archeological expedition under the direction of academician V.L. Yanin discovered the oldest Russian book, which dates from the first quarter of the 11th century. The book consists of several wooden plates for making wax tablets with inscriptions. Besides the main text containing psalms, edges and other parts of the plates include additional, barely visible inscriptions, the decoding of which was recently published by academician A. A. Zalizniak. The texts contain some mathematical inscriptions - the so-called “number alphabets” used for teaching numbers in a system written with letters. They also mention several times the year 6507 (999 AD), in which the monk Isaakii received the title of priest in Suzdal and became hieromonk. The inscriptions were made either by Isaakii himself (the most likely interpretation, according to Zalizniak) or by a professional scribe. One can conclude that the knowledge of arithmetic was used in ancient Rus at the end of the 10thh century (999) for chronology, among other purposes. Hieromonk Isaakii can be considered in this regard a predecessor of Kirik of Novgorod, the earliest Russian mathematician known by name heretofore, who authored the mathematical and chronological treatise of 1136.

78 0