Page "Diophantus" Paragraph 17

Like many other Greek mathematical treatises, Diophantus was forgotten in Western Europe during the so-called Dark Ages, since the study of ancient Greek had greatly declined.

The portion of the Greek Arithmetica that survived, however, was, like all ancient Greek texts transmitted to the early modern world, copied by, and thus known to, medieval Byzantine scholars.

In addition, some portion of the Arithmetica probably survived in the Arab tradition ( see above ).

In 1463 German mathematician Regiomontanus wrote: