Medieval Arabs had manuscripts of many ancient Greek texts, which were

The missing link: Between "interested in the Poetics" and "would certainly have wanted to read Homer"

Option A solved the missing link.
Options B, C don't solve the missing link of the argument. => eliminated
Option D mention the modern Arab poets => eliminated
Option E mentions the medieval Arab, not Medieval Arab poets, philosophers, translators. => eliminated

Choice A

The right answer is A.

Premise: Medieval Arabs had manuscripts of many ancient Greek texts, which were translated into Arabic when there was a demand for them.
Premise: Medieval Arab philosophers were very interested in Aristotle's Poetics.
Counter-premise: But Homer was not translated into Arabic until modern times.
Counter-premise: Because a poet interested in the Poetics would certainly have wanted to read Homer, to whose epics Aristotle frequently refers.
Conclusion: Medieval Arab poets, unlike Medieval Arab philosophers, were not interested in Aristotle's Poetics.

We need to strengthen the conclusion that Medieval Arab Poets were not interested in Aristotle's Poetics. This conclusion is premised on the fact that Homer was not translated into Arabic until modern times. An answer choice that suggests that Homer and any other poetic works of Aristotle were not translated from their original Greek version would strengthen this argument.

A states that a number of medieval Arab translators possessed manuscripts of the Homeric epics in their original Greek. This is the right answer as it is in line with the above.
B states that Medieval Arabic story cycles, such as the Arabian Nights, are in some ways similar to parts of the Homeric epics. B weakens the argument if it is true because if Medieval Arabic story cycles are similar to Homeric epics, then it means that Aristotle's poets were indeed translated and this is contrary to the conclusion in the argument above.
C states that in addition to translating from Greek, medieval Arab translators produced Arabic editions of many works originally written in Indian languages and in Persian. The information in C is irrelevant. It neither weakens nor strengthens the argument above.
D states that Aristotle's Poetics has frequently been cited and commented on by modern Arab poets. D weakens the argument above. If Aristotle's poetics were frequently cited and commented on by Arab poets, then it means that Arab poets were interested in Aristotle's poetic works, a situation that is contrary to the conclusion of the argument.
E states that Aristotle's Poetics is largely concerned with drama, and dramatic works were written and performed by medieval Arabs. This option does strengthen the argument above. It is true that Aristotle's Poetics were largely concerned with drama, but the fact that dramatic works were written and performed by medieval Arabs does not mean that these dramatic works were taken from the Poetics of Aristotle. If these dramatic works written and performed by Medieval Arabs were inspired or taken from the Poetic works of Aristotle, then this option can be seen as a weakener, but we are unable to determine based on the information provided above.

Medieval Arabs had manuscripts of many ancient Greek texts, which were translated into Arabic when there was a demand for them......so Homer is not in demand by then.....but they have translated it later.....so they should have homer in greek....

(A) A number of medieval Arab translators possessed manuscripts of the Homeric epics in their original Greek.....Sufficient as per pre-thinking....

OA:A

KarishmaB Can you help with this question ?

(A) A number of medieval Arab translators possessed manuscripts of the Homeric epics in their original Greek.

If A is the answer then why did it take until modern times to translate it. This makes entire last part of the para null and void.

Also (E) is rejected because it mentions only Med-Arab and not poets/translators...isnt this inconsistent option.

None of the option is consistent with chronology of question. Can we expect such questions in GMAT?

The author here assumes that the reason Homer was not translated was because of a lack of demand. However, there can be many reasons why Homer was not translated by the medieval Arabs. One such reason might be that the authors did not have access to a copy of Homer. How can you translate something if you do not have the original?

Option A removes this possibility: If there were copies of Homer avalible to them, then it makes it more likely that the authors reasoning is correct, strengthing the argument.

Hope that helps!

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