OK class. Shhh. I'm giving each group of you
a different era of history to research...and
the question is 'What impact did your era
have on the modern world?' So Sarah your group
has the ancient Greeks. Ravi, you have the
Romans. And Danny's group gets...ah yes, a
bit of a challenge for you...you get the Middle
Ages, some even call it the Dark Ages.
BOOOORING.
See how you get on.
So Shareen, yes, you get the Renaissance...
Is that the Librarian?
How are the Dark Ages gonna have anything
to do with us?
Erm...excuse me, sorry to bother you.
What do you want?
We need to find out what impact the Dark Ages
had on the modern world?
Never was a period of history so poorly named.
Don't touch. Its priceless....And I supposed
someone's been filling your head with the
usual nonsense, eh. A thousand wasted years,
a black hole in history, am I right?
Um, yeah, sort of
You see its always the same, you assume it
was all mud, disease, death, and destruction
with marauding mobs of barbarians ripping
down the good of former civilizations, burning
and plundering as they went, nothing of any
worth invented either, eh? Oh, no no no, no
no no, go on, be off with you.
Sorry to bother you.
Come on , its probably not worth it, everyone
knows that the Greeks and the Romans invented
everything anyway.
Awwww, did they now? And you're sure about
that are you? You know I might just have something
for you. You seem to be up to the task. I.....suppose
I could...Follow me. I've got just the book
for you.
Where are we going?
Ask him!
Uh, excuse me..where are we going?
From darkness into light, my young friend.
From ocean onto land. There are things you
should know. Oh yes, indeed.
Now I know I left it around here somewhere
-- Ah, here it is. Now, take a look...if you
dare.
What's going on?!
Welcom to the Dark Ages ... or as it should
be known, The Golden Ages.
Who are you?
I am Al-Jazari, engineer and ingenious inventor.
I thought you said this was the Dark Ages.
It doesn't look very…dark.
That's because its all a matter of perspective,
my soon to be illuminated friend. Of course
there are parts of the world that weren't
dark at all, but in a civilisation that stretched
from Spain to China the golden rays of discovery
and invention shone over everything.
What civilization?
The Mulsim civilization my, young friend.
Through scholars and scientists of various
faiths some of the most important discoveries
known to man were made at this time - discoveries
that drew on knowledge of the ancients, but
have more connection with your modern world
than you could possibly ever imagine.
Like what?
Well, like, all sorts of things
I've gotta get a picture of this.
I knew it was a good idea.
Who are you?
Allow me to introduce Ibn Al Haytham, a great
scientist whose ideas led to the invention
of the camera.
You invented the camera?
I laid the foundations for modern cameras
by explaining how our eyes work. I found a
way of projecting an image onto another surface
through small hole in a dark room - later
called, camera obscura.
Think of all the things that evolved from
this discovery - cameras, cinema all share
the same principle.
Cool.
LOOK OUT BELOW!!
Who's that?
That's my good friend, Abbas Ibn Firnas, who
gazed up to the heavens passionate in his
belief that man could fly.
Whoa.
Indeed he dared to dream about flying one
thousand years before the Wright Brothers.
You know you all take your jetsetting holidays
for granted so it only seems fair to remember
Abbas ibn Firnas.
Stand back. I'm ready for take off!
Oh! He did frget one thing though..a tail,
useful for landing.
Oh , my back. Doctor!
Did someone call?
Ah, my old friend, why don't you introduce
yourself to my young guests?
I am Abul Qassim Al-Zahrawi, many call me
the father of surgery.
Did you actually do surgery back then?
Of course we did, in fact, many of the surgical
tools that I invented are still used in you
modern hospitals. Excuse me, a patient needs
my attention. Scalpel!
I think I might need stitches.
In that case, I'll use cat gut.
Cat gut?
From the gut of animals, perfect for stitching
up internal wounds. Your surgeons are still
using it today.
Who's she?
That's Maeriam Al-Astrulabi, one of the many
brilliant women of her time. She made sophisticated
astrolabes.
Astro-what?
Astrolabes. They show the sky and the stars
on a small flat plate you can hold in your
hand. Think of them as ancient calculating
or timekeeping devices. today you have your
watch, your compass, satellite navigation...helping
people and explorers travel the world. Science
at its brilliant best.
And all these things were developed during
the Golden Ages?
That's just the tip of the iceberg. There
were thousands of other inventions covering
all areas of life and in the years that followed
their influence spread across the whole of
medieval Europe so you see, it wasn't so dark
after all.
What about you?
Me?
What did you invent?
Well I don't want to be big-headed but I made
some groundbreaking advances in engineering.
I suppose my most significant discovery converted
rotary motion into linear motion, using a
crank and connecting rod. It's essential in
pumps and engines. In fact, I have no idea
how the Industrial Revolution could have happened
hundreds of years later without such a device.
Not that I ever get the credit I deserve.
But my crowning glory was my amazing time-telling
machine, my legendary Elephant Clock.
It's a clock?
Yes.
Dozens of components collected from different
cultures around the world - Arabian, Egyptian,
India, Greek, Chinese.
Wow, a United Nations clock.
That is pretty cool.
Does it actually tell the time?
Well, yes, of course. If it wasn't for me
thousands of people would be late for everything.
Speaking of time we better get you back. And
remember, spread the word, this was a Golden
Age, and I have only shown you a tiny part
of this wondrous time. There are countless
other scientists and inventions directly connected
to your modern world. You're just going to
have to find out for yourselves...
No wait.
Whoa. Did you?
Yeah.
That wasn't quote so boring. Come on. We're
gonna be late.
So what did we learn? The Romans, the Greeks,
the Renaissance, and the Industrial Revolution
all have great relevance to us today. Where's
Danny's group?
Just there, Miss.
Ah, our intrepid Dark Ages group, you probably
had a much harder time finding any connections
with the modern world.
Actually, Miss, that's not strictly true...
