>Just as the death of Hypatia signals the close of the Library of Alexandria as a mathematical center, so does the death of Boethius signal the end of mathematics in the Western Roman Empire, but work continued for a few years longer at Athens. When in 527 Justinian became emperor in the East, he evidently felt that the pagan learning of the Academy and other philosophical schools at Athens was a threat to orthodox Christianity; hence, in 529 the philosophical schools were closed and the scholars dispersed. The year 529 is now taken to be the beginning of the medieval period. Rome at the time was scarcely a very hospitable home for scholars, and … Continue reading >Carl B. Boyer