Chasing the Light: What Happened to the Ancient Theories?

Abstract

In the course of contemporary investigations into the history of optics, it is claimed that the study of light in antiquity was subordinated to the study of sight. Though previous scholarship allowed some conceptual space for an autonomous study of light, such an approach remains a largely unexplored possibility. In what follows, I want to investigate further the possibility of a luminocentric as opposed to the oculocentric approach to ancient optics. Based on evidence from the Platonic Timaeus, I argue for the existence of a proper physics of light in the ancient world. If my argument is correct, the ancient physics of light ought to be part of a comprehensive and systematic history of optics. Key words: History of optics – ancient physics – theories of light, vision & colours – Timaeus