Greek contributions to Islamic world scholarship throughout the Hellenistic world, and Greek mathematics merged with Egyptian and Babylonian mathematics to give rise to a Hellenistic mathematics. The most important centre of learning during this period was Alexandria in Egypt, which attracted scholars from across the Hellenistic world, mostly Greek and Egyptian, but also Jewish, Persian, Phoenician scholars. Most of the mathematical texts written in Greek have been found in Greece, Egypt, Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, and Sicily. Byzantine science was essentially classical science. Therefore, Byzantine science was in every period closely connected with ancient-pagan philosophy, and metaphysics. Despite some opposition to pagan learning, many of the
Asia word "asa" meaning east. This may be contrasted to a similar etymology proposed for "Europe", as being from Akkadian "erēbu(m)" 'to enter' or 'set' (of the sun). T.R. Reid supports this alternative etymology, noting that the ancient Greek name must have derived from "asu", meaning 'east' in Assyrian ("ereb" for "Europe" meaning 'west'). The ideas of "Occidental" (form Latin "Occidens" 'setting') and "Oriental" (from Latin "Oriens" for 'rising') are also European invention, synonymous with "Western" and "Eastern". Reid further emphasizes that it explains the Western point of view of placing all the peoples and cultures of Asia into a single