A New History of Greek Mathematics

Engaging and comprehensive history of Greek mathematics, with full attention to social contexts and its place in world history.

Reviel Netz (Author)

9781108833844, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 1 September 2022

540 pages, 58 b/w illus. 2 maps
23.5 x 15.8 x 2.9 cm, 1 kg

'In A New History of Greek Mathematics, Netz presents a bold narrative of Greek mathematics. His is not simply an account of Greek geometry or a chronicle of individual mathematicians and their work. It is a new history of western science.' Liba Taub, Times Literary Supplement

The ancient Greeks played a fundamental role in the history of mathematics and their ideas were reused and developed in subsequent periods all the way down to the scientific revolution and beyond. In this, the first complete history for a century. Reviel Netz offers a panoramic view of the rise and influence of Greek mathematics and its significance in world history. He explores the Near Eastern antecedents and the social and intellectual developments underlying the subject's beginnings in Greece in the fifth century BCE. He leads the reader through the proofs and arguments of key figures like Archytas, Euclid and Archimedes, and considers the totality of the Greek mathematical achievement which also includes, in addition to pure mathematics, such applied fields as optics, music, mechanics and, above all, astronomy. This is the story not only of a major historical development, but of some of the finest mathematics ever created.

1. To the Threshold of Greek Mathematics
2. The Generation of Archytas
3. The Generation of Archimedes
4. Mathematics in the World
5. Mathematics of the Stars
6. The Canonization of Greek Mathematics
7. Into Modern Science: The Legacy of Greek Mathematics.

Subject Areas: History of mathematics [PBX], Philosophy of mathematics [PBB], Western philosophy: Ancient, to c 500 [HPCA], Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA]