/lit/ - Literature

>>14881801
When the Neoplatonists were denied the right to teach they went to the middle east, some certainly to Harran where paganism still thrived. Eventually when Islam conquered Syria the Neoplatonists and hermeticists (same thing) who were in hiding took on the protected class of Sabians (since nobody knew who the fuck these were supposed to be), and reestablished the academy in Baghdad (circle of Al-Kindi eventually House of Wisdom). Although obviously less explicitly polytheistic, this began with Ammonius and Olympiodorus in Alexandria, the wholly "Neoplatonic" nature of many of "islamic" philosophers also proves how influenced they were, Al-Farabi even appears as someone displaced in time.
All this underground philosophy ended in both Harran and Baghdad thanks to the STUPID MONGOLIANS, this together with the sacking of Constantinople was the real root of the loss of so many ancient texts that Simplicius & Co had brought to the east.