This volume presents the proceedings of a Conference with the same title, organized by the History of Science Programme of the Institute of Neohellenic Research of the National Hellenic Research Foundation and the Greek Institute of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Studies of Venice, during November2003 in Athens.
The volume aims to present the latest research on the scientific thought in the Greek speaking communities of the Ottoman Empire and Italy, and especially the role of Venice as intermediary between Byzantium and Europe and between European science and the Greek communities. From the 14th century, Venice played an important role for him spreading of Byzantine science (included Persian science transmitted by Byzantines) to Europe. After the conquest of Byzantium by the Ottomans, the most important Greek scholars fled to Venice and from there they propagated Greek studies participating in that way to the Humanist movement. During the Ottoman period, an important Greek community flourished in Venice, and the Venetian university of Padua was the main destination for Greek students of the Ottoman Empire. New science was spread to the Greek world by those students.
In the volume two periods are presented: the Byzantine and the Ottoman. During the first period, the way of transmission of the scientific knowledge was mainly from East (Byzantium) to the West and during the second, from the West to East.