The scientific impulse can be said to have existed forever. But only with the written word did there emerge a record of speculations about how and why things happen.

Middle Eastern civilizations developed ways to measure and describe (e.g. math and the alphabet); Greek philosophers classified natural objects and studied cause and effect.

This is the story of ancient science from Asia to the Mediterranean Basin.

The Science and Discovery series recreates history's four thousand year journey to better understand the world through scientific means. It is a story of vested interests and independent thinkers, experiments and theories, change and progress. Portland State University