In Chapter 1, The Late Ancient Background
¶ The Arabic authors of the 3rd/9th and 4th/10th centuries entered into a philosophical heritage that was at once vast and variegated. If it did not contain the full spectrum of all the different doctrines that had been maintained and taught throughout antiquity, this was not for any shortcomings of the Greek-Arabic transmission or a lack of interest on the part of the Arab readers; it was, rather, the result of certain developments that had alrea…