Ancient (BCE-40 CE)

Assyro-Babylonian Mythology: The Astronomy of Babylon The astronomy of Babylon as it relates to the Babylonian Gods of worship.
The Babylonian astronomers used a set of 30 stars as references forcelestial position, and their astronomical diaries detailed the locationsof the moon and planets with respect to the stars. Reports of bad weatheror unusual atmospheric phenomena - like rainbows and haloes - found theirway into the diaries, too. Finally, various events of local importance(fires, thefts, and conquests), the amount of rise or fall in the riverat Babylon, and the quantity of various commodities that could be purchasedfor one silver shekel filled out the diligent astronomer's report.

Website of the Journal for the History of Astronomy. Table of Contents for recent publications available.

The Mathematics and the Liberal Arts pages are intended to be a resource for student research projects and for teachers interested in using the history of mathematics in their courses. Many pages focus on ethnomathematics and in the connections between mathematics and other disciplines. The notes in these pages are intended as much to evoke ideas as to indicate what the books and articles are about. They are not intended as reviews. However, some items have been reviewed in Mathematical Reviews, published by The American Mathematical Society. When the mathematical review (MR) number and reviewer are known to the author of these pages, they are given as part of the bibliographic citation. Subscribing institutions can access the more recent MR reviews online through MathSciNet.

The purpose of this page is to provide a source of information on all aspects of Mesopotamian mathematics. We explain the origins of mathematics in Mesopotamia from the earliest tokens, through the development of Sumerian mathematics to the grand flowering in the Old Babylonian period, and on into the later periods of Mesopotamian history. We include some general surveys to get you oriented in each period, and some more detailed resources for those interested in specific aspects of this fascinating episode in history. Like most other Web pages it is under slow construction as time permits. Some of these resources are of general interest, others are intended mainly for use by students in my History of Mathematics class.

Zeno of Elea, son of Teleutagoras, was born early in the-fifth century B.C. He was the pupil of Parmenides, and his relations with him were so intimate that Plato calls him Parmenides's son (Soph. 241 D). Strabo (vi. 1, 1) applies to him as well as to his master the name Pythagorean, and gives him the credit of advancing the cause of law and order in Elea.

By about 3000 BC, the Sumerians were drawing images of tokens on clay tablets. At this point, different types of goods were represented by different symbols, and multiple quantities represented by repetition. Three units of grain were denoted by three 'grain-marks', five jars of oil were denoted by five 'oil-marks' and so on.

One of the major contributions Archimedes made to mathematics was his method for approximating the value of pi. It had long been recognized that the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter was constant, and a number of approximations had been given up to that point in time by the Babylonians, Egyptians, and even the Chinese. There are some authors who claim that a biblical passage1 also implies an approximate value of 3 (and in fact there is an interesting story2 associated with that).

The mares, which carry me as far as my heart desires, were escorting me. They brought and placed me upon the well-spoken path of the Goddess, which carries everywhere unscathed the mortal who knows. Thereon was I carried, for thereon the wise mares did carry me, straining to pull the chariot, with maidens guiding the way. The axle, glowing in its naves, gave forth the shrill sound of a musical pipe, urged on by two rounded wheels on either end, even whilst maidens, Daughters of the Sun, were hastening to escort me, after leaving the House of Night for the light, having pushed back the veils from their heads with their hands

Anaximandros of Miletos was a companion or pupil of Thales. According to Apollodoros he was born in the second or third year of the forty-second Olympiad (611-610B.C.). Of his life little is known; Zeller infers from the statement of Aelian (V.H. iii. 17) to the effect that he led the Milesian colony into Apollonia, that he was a man of influence in Miletos. He was a student of geography and astronomy; and various inventions, such as the sundial, are attributed to him. His book, which was referred to as the first philosophical treatise in Greece, may not have received the title "GREEK" until after his death. It soon became rare, and Simplicius does not seem to have had access to it.

Parmenides, the son of Pyres (or Pyrrhes), of Elea, was born about 515 B.C.; his family was of noble rank and rich, but Parmenides devoted himself to philosophy. He was associated with members of the Pythagorean society, and is himself called a Pythagorean by later writers. In the formation of his philosophic system however he was most influenced by his aged fellow-townsman, Xenophanes; the doctrines of Xenophanes he developed into a system which was embodied in a poetic work "On Nature." The statement that he made laws for the citizens may have reference to some connection with the Pythagorean society.