Though strictly spoken we are off-topic I think reception history is a part of philosophy we can't ignore.

The Ancient Philosophers Platon, Aristoteles, and others do realize that they had teachers, but don't hesitate and bring up new quetsions and answers. During teh Fall of the Roman Empire we have conservation of old thoughts mainly. And this conversation led to the Scholastic. A school of thought which tries to be most erudite in knowledge about Scripture and their exegets and the Ancient philosophers. The aim of the scholastics was to find the will of God through the thorough examination of the Ancients, the "AUTORITAS". Bridging the gap between Ancient philosophy and christian theoloy was the field in which most progress was made.

Am I mistaken, when I claim, that the major thinkers of the Middle Ages, like Thomas Aquinas or Albertus MAgnus, Magister Eckhard have been mostly collectors and exegets of Ancients?

And yes I know that new things have been thought and I know of Francis Bacon and Anslem of Canterbury and Occham. My point is more statistical (and even for the most of their writings there is not much new.)