How the Irish Saved Civilization

The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from (Hinges of History)

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Thomas Cahill: How the Irish Saved Civilization (1996, Tandem Library)

Unknown Binding

English language

Published Feb. 13, 1996 by Tandem Library.

ISBN:
978-1-4177-1079-9
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4 stars (20 reviews)

9 editions

Review of 'How the Irish Saved Civilization' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I'm not sure how many non-historians in the west realise that nearly all that survives of the great literary Roman and Greek civilisations does so because while Europe was falling into chaos and darkness, medieval Irish monks learned to read and write, and then compulsively copied everything they could get their hands on. Not only that, but the copies they made are masterpieces of illumination, art that is still displayed in museums and reproduced on prints and carvings and jewellery:

"The Irish received literacy in their own way, as something to play with. . . . [W]ithin a generation the Irish had mastered Latin and even Greek and, as best they could, were picking up some Hebrew. . . . [T]hey devised Irish grammars, and copied out the whole of their native oral literature. . . . [T]hey found the shapes of letters magical. Why, they asked themselves, did a …

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Subjects

  • Civilization
  • Europe - Ireland
  • History - General History