Uncommon musical items under unusual light:
"Polyphony, like science, is peculiar to our Western civilization. (I am using the term “polyphony” to denote not only counterpoint but also Western harmony.) Unlike science it does not seem to be of Greek origin but to have arisen between the ninth and fifteenth centuries A.D. If so, it is possibly the most unprecedented, original, indeed miraculous achievement of our Western civilization, not excluding science." (Karl Popper)