Anania Shirakatsi
| Anania Shirakatsi | |
|---|---|
.jpg) |
|
| Born | 610 AD Shirak, Armenia |
| Died | 685 |
| Nationality | Armenian |
| Fields | Mathematics, astronomy |
| Known for | Ashkharatsuyts |
| Influences | Tychikos |
Anania Shirakatsi (Armenian: Անանիա Շիրակացի, Armenian pronunciation: [ɑnɑˈnjɑ ʃiɾɑkɑˈt͡sʰi]; 610–685 AD), also known as Ananias of Shirak and Annannia Shirakatsi, was an Armenian philosopher, mathematician, astronomer, geographer and alchemist. He discovered that the Earth is spherical and proposed there was more to the universe than the standard Aristotelian model accepted at the time. His most famous works are Ashkharatsuyts (Geography) and Cosmography and the Calendar.
Scholars do not agree on where Anania was born. Some historians believe that he was born in Shirakavan; others, that the village of Anania in Shirak or the city of Ani was his birthplace. Unlike many other notable figures, Anania left behind an autobiography. It is known that he was the son of John (Hovhannes) of Shirak and possibly a member of the noble Kamsarakan or Arsharuni princes of the region. It is believed that he received his primary education at a school named Dprevank', and that from a very early age he found himself attracted to mathematics. He left Armenia and traveled abroad for eleven years in the hopes of getting a better education.
Upon the recommendation of several of his friends who were returning from Constantinople, he decided to find a suitable teacher in Trebizond in the Byzantine Empire. There he met and fell under the tutelage of a renowned Greek scholar who spoke Armenian, Tychikos, and spent eight years learning mathematics there. Anania profited greatly from his mentor's teachings, as evidenced from the writings in his autobiography, "[I] acquired a perfect knowledge of mathematics. In addition, he also learned a few elements of other sciences." He left Byzantium and returned to his homeland in 651, determined to spread his knowledge among his fellow Armenians, opening a school that taught the quadrivium and authoring textbooks to educate his students.
...
Wikipedia