Origin of Greek mathematics (1)

Text
The Greeks believed that their mathematical knowledge derived from Babylonian sources. Herodotus (2.109) is at pains to argue that, in his view, the Greek system of mathematical survey and land-measurement derived from Egypt rather than Mesopotamia, as others had presumably suggested. Since the works of the most famous pre-Euclidean Greek mathematicians have not survived extant, the Greek debt to Mesopotamian mathemathics cannot be assessed adequately. It may be assumed that, by the sixth century, Thales and Pythagoras knew the essential elements of Babylonian mathematics, as a result of having travelled in Mesopotamia or Egypt. Many key mathematical texts in cuneiform were compiled before 612 BCE, often using much older sources.

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Herodotus 2.109

Bibliography

Stephanie Dalley

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