Writing Practical Mathematics in Greek and Roman Antiquity
type: CreativeWork
description: Recent years have seen increasing interest in the historiography of mathematics outside the canonical texts. In the case of ancient mathematics preserved from classical antiquity, this has included a focus on reading texts as evidence for mathematical practice, and attempts to place them in their socio-historical context. This thesis aims to explore how mathematical knowledge was presented, organised, and adapted to its function in applied contexts in Greek and Roman antiquity, through four interlocking case studies: architecture, land surveying, ‘practical geometry’ in Greco-Roman Egypt, and mathematical geography. All of these are linked by their use of mathematics at some level to record and to control space. • Chapter 1 introduces the topic, and considers ancient definitions of mathematics, as well as modern historiographical notions of ‘traditions’, ‘cultures’ and ‘modes’ of mathematical writing. It also provides an outline of the textual evidence for ancient mathematics in practical contexts. • In chapter 2, Vitruvius’ discursive account of architecture prompts an examination of the social context and perceived mathematical competence of Roman architects. • In Chapter 3, the existence of several sets of geometrical problems as part of the Corpus Agrimensorum Romanorum allows for a survey of the possibilities they present for studying mathematics in a Roman context. I also suggest that the role of the agrimensor is paralleled by that of an ‘architectural surveyor’, with whose activities a tranche of procedural problem texts are associated. • Chapter 4 considers the surviving corpus of mathematical papyri, which contain a number of geometrical ‘problem-texts’, frequently characterised as ‘algorithmic’. While they are far from homogeneous, the general style of these texts is functionally similar to those found in the ps-Heronian corpora of problems. But the papyri provide unrivalled direct evidence for the kind of mathematical writing produced in Egypt between th…
abstract: Recent years have seen increasing interest in the historiography of mathematics outside the canonical texts. In the case of ancient mathematics preserved from classical antiquity, this has included a focus on reading texts as evidence for mathematical practice, and attempts to place them in their socio-historical context. This thesis aims to explore how mathematical knowledge was presented, organised, and adapted to its function in applied contexts in Greek and Roman antiquity, through four interlocking case studies: architecture, land surveying, ‘practical geometry’ in Greco-Roman Egypt, and mathematical geography. All of these are linked by their use of mathematics at some level to record and to control space. • Chapter 1 introduces the topic, and considers ancient definitions of mathematics, as well as modern historiographical notions of ‘traditions’, ‘cultures’ and ‘modes’ of mathematical writing. It also provides an outline of the textual evidence for ancient mathematics in practical contexts. • In chapter 2, Vitruvius’ discursive account of architecture prompts an examination of the social context and perceived mathematical competence of Roman architects. • In Chapter 3, the existence of several sets of geometrical problems as part of the Corpus Agrimensorum Romanorum allows for a survey of the possibilities they present for studying mathematics in a Roman context. I also suggest that the role of the agrimensor is paralleled by that of an ‘architectural surveyor’, with whose activities a tranche of procedural problem texts are associated. • Chapter 4 considers the surviving corpus of mathematical papyri, which contain a number of geometrical ‘problem-texts’, frequently characterised as ‘algorithmic’. While they are far from homogeneous, the general style of these texts is functionally similar to those found in the ps-Heronian corpora of problems. But the papyri provide unrivalled direct evidence for the kind of mathematical writing produced in Egypt between th…
author: Kelly, Thomas
keywords: ancient mathematics, Greek mathematics, Roman mathematics, ancient surveying, ancient architecture, ancient cartography, papyri, diagrams, algorithms
license: https://apollo8-f-pro.lib.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/ac6c138c-39cf-4811-aa8f-8acb28a70bcc/download
license: http://purl.org/NET/rdflicense/allrightsreserved
date published: 2024-05-09
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:24:13Z
provider: Cambridge University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Cambridge

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.17863/CAM.119791