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I.

Greek and Roman Civilization


A. Location, Area and Old Map

Ancient Greece was known to be the bastion of

knowledge of the ancient world. Greek society made

important contributions in the fields of philosophy,

mathematics, astronomy, and medicine. Another important

aspect of Greek culture that has survived the downfall of

their kingdom was their literature and theatre which Figure 1. Ancient Greece

influenced the modern drama. The Greeks were also

known for their sophisticated sculpture and architecture. Moreover, Greek culture influenced the

Roman Empire and many other civilizations, and it continues to influence modern cultures today.

The history of the great philosophers were built on the idea that the pursuit of knowledge was

beautiful, and rivaled the pursuit of conquering other civilizations with their great armies. One of

the key points of Ancient Greek philosophy was the role of reason and inquiry. It emphasized logic

and championed the idea of impartial, rational observation of the natural world (Hornblower,

2019).

Ancient Greek civilization, the period following Mycenaean civilization, which ended

about 1200 BCE, to the death of Alexander the Great, in 323 BCE. It was a period of political,

philosophical, artistic, and scientific achievements that formed a legacy with unparalleled

influence on Western civilization (Mastin, 2010).

Greece is located at the southeast end of Europe and it is the southernmost country of the

Balkan Peninsula. Greece is referred to as a southern European country, because geographically

she is part of this region. In the larger sense, Greece is considered also a part of Western Europe.
The Minoan culture of Crete and the Cycladic culture of the Aegean islands were the first advanced

cultures that settled in geographic Europe. Early Helladic civilization (Mycenaean) is widely

considered to be the first advanced civilization of Europe since eventually developed into the

Classical Greek culture. Greece consists of a mountainous, peninsular mainland jutting out into

the sea at the southern end of the Balkans, ending at the Peloponnese peninsula (separated from

the mainland by the canal of the Isthmus of Corinth) and strategically located at the crossroads of

Europe, Asia, and Africa. Due to its highly indented coastline and numerous islands, Greece has

the 11th longest coastline in the world. Eighty percent of Greece consists of mountains or hills,

making the country one of the most mountainous in Europe. Mount Olympus, the mythical abode

of the Greek Gods, which is also considered to be the highest in the country (Hellenic Statistical

Authority, 2013).

Roman civilization on the other hand, built

one of the greatest empires in world history.

However, whereas the Roman Empire lasted from

about 30 BCE to 476 CE, Ancient Roman

civilization emerged long before, in the centuries

after 800 BCE. As their glory shone throughout

the ancient world, the downfall of Rome was also


Figure 2. Ancient Rome as epic. A society of small farmers were the

foundation that Ancient Roman society was originally built on. As it grew more powerful and

expanded all throughout the world, Rome became one of the most urbanized societies in the pre-

industrial world. At the height of the glory of the Roman empire, Rome was at the time probably

the largest city on the planet with more than a million inhabitants. Apart from the empire, it had a
handful of other cities with several hundred thousands living there, and many other urban

settlements of equal wealth At the height of its empire, Rome was probably the largest city on the

planet, with more than a million inhabitants. The empire had a handful of other cities with several

hundred thousand inhabitants, and many other large and wealthy urban settlements. These cities

had some features which would have looked very familiar to us: high rise apartment blocks,

overcrowded slums, busy streets, plazas, imposing public administrative buildings, and so on.

(Anonymous, 2014).

B. Numeration System

Building on the discoveries

and knowledge of civilizations in

Egypt and Mesopotamia, among

others, the Ancient Greeks developed

a sophisticated philosophical and Figure 3. Ancient Greek Herodanic numerals

scientific culture. The role of reason and inquiry was a key point in Ancient Greek Philosophy and

paved the way for great thinkers like Plato, Hippocrates and specifically mathematicians such as

Pythagoras, Euclid, and Archimedes who we can owe our basic mathematic ideas to. As they

developed ideas regarding geometry and the concept of mathematical proofs. As their influence

began to spread the Greeks developed strategies to adopt useful elements of knowledge from the

countries and civilizations they conquered. Their mathematics were adopted from the Babylonians

and Egyptians who were also master craftsmen because of the mathematics they employed. By the
Hellenistic period and onwards, Greek civilization would make one of the most dramatic and

important revolutions in the history of math of all time (Mastin, 2010).

Most Greek math was based on geometry, but the ancient Greeks developed their own

numeral system known as Attic or Hierodianic numerals which were already fully developed by

450 BCE, and already in regular use by the 7th Century BCE. It was a base 10 system similar to

the earlier Egyptian one (and even more similar to the later Roman system), with symbols for 1,

5, 10, 50, 100, 500 and 1,000 repeated as many times needed to represent the desired number.

Addition was done by totalling separately the symbols (1s, 10s, 100s, etc) in the numbers to be

added, and multiplication was a laborious process based on successive doublings (division was

based on the inverse of this process) (Ibid.)

Romans on the other hand

despite all their advances, no

mathematical innovations were ever

developed under the Roman Empire


Figure 4. Roman Numerals

and Republic and no

mathematicians worthy of note emerged at this juncture. This is partly due to the fact that Romans

had no use for pure mathematics, but only used math for practicality. Roman numerals are widely

known today, and were the dominant system of numbers for trade purposes and for administration

and was utilized for the better part of a millennium. It was decimal (base 10) system but not directly

positional, and did not include a zero, so that, for arithmetic and mathematical purposes, it was a
clumsy and inefficient system. It was based on letters of the Roman alphabet - I, V, X, L, C, D and

M - combines to signify the sum of their values (Ibid.)

C. Contribution to Mathematics

The beginning of the

Greek classical period of

mathematics were spearheaded

by a man known to be one of

the Seven (7) Wise Men of

Greece at the time. Little is

known about the life of Thales,

but two of his contributions to

math the Intercept Theorem

and Thales’ theorem were a

result of his great work. He is usually considered to have been the first to lay down

guidelines for the abstract development of geometry, although what we know of his work

(such as on similar and right triangles) now seems quite basic compared to what we know

now.

The intercept theorem, also known as Thales' theorem or basic proportionality theorem, is

an important theorem in elementary geometry about the ratios of various line segments that
are created if two intersecting lines are intercepted by a pair of parallels (Ostermann

&Wanner, 2012).

Finally, one of the most important contributions of Greek civilization to the field

of mathematics is the Pythagorean theorem. In mathematics, the Pythagorean theorem, also

Figure 5. Pythagorean Theorem

known as Pythagoras' theorem, is a fundamental relation in Euclidean geometry among the

three sides of a right triangle. It states that the area of the square whose side is the

hypotenuse (the side opposite the right angle) is equal to the sum of the areas of the squares

on the other two sides. This theorem can be written as an equation relating the lengths of

the sides a, b and c, often called the "Pythagorean equation"

where c represents the length of the hypotenuse and a and b the lengths of the triangle's

other two sides. Although the use of the theorem predates Pythagoras, it is him who has

been credited for proving the theorem. This theorem is considered to be a basis for

trigonometry but also used to connect geometry and algebra. Its relevance to the present

day is widely felt, some of its real life uses include helping people connect the length of a
diagonal which is useful in architecture, construction, navigation and surveying of a map

for calculating numerical distances, and laying out square angles (Willis, 2017).

D. Mathematicians

The legend of Pythagoras and his contributions has apparently

become synonymous with the birth of Greek mathematics and

has paved the way for a complete system of mathematics to be

constructed, using geometric elements corresponding with

numbers. To this day Pythagoras remains to be an enigma in

the math world because he is a controversial character in its

history, mentioned a while ago that the theorem he helped

developed was widely used before him he was the one that

proved the theorem. Although one of the greatest contributions Figure 6. Pythagoras

of man to the field of mathematics can be attributed to this great man whose knowledge and

influence continues to be felt today. August 15 is considered to be Pythagorean Theorem Day,

however it is not considered to be an annual event; it only occurs when the total of the squares of

the first two digits is equal to the square of the last digit in a date (8² + 15² = 17²). Pythagoras was

a philosopher, mystic, and mathematician who was born around 570 BCE in Samos, Ionia, in what

is now Greece. He established a secret society in Croton with himself and a number of disciples

who explored the idea that the salvation of the human soul could be done through mathematical

principles. He and his students believed that every relationship was somehow related to numbers,

and that in order to better understand the order of the universe and his place in it man had to study
mathematics. Maybe one fault in Pythagoras’ life was that he did not write down any of his own

beliefs and contributions, therefore it is hard to identify whether or not his contributions to math

were of his own doing or that of his followers. Nevertheless there is little to no doubt that his ideas

have helped shape mathematics years after his death (Mastin, 2010; Willis, 2017).

Other notable mathematicians, I will further mention here. Euclid, was also known as

Euclid of Alexandria and referred as the father of geometry deduced the Euclidean geometry. The

name has it all, which in Greek means “renowned, glorious”.

Figure 7. Euclid

Archimedes is yet another great talent from the land

of the Greek. He thrived for gaining knowledge in

mathematical education and made various contributions. He

is best known for antiquity and the invention of compound

pulleys and screw pump. Other mathematical achievements

include deriving an accurate approximation of pi, defining

and investigating the spiral bearing his name, and creating a

system using exponentiation for expressing very large

numbers. He was also one of the first to apply mathematics to Figure 8. Archimedes
physical phenomena, founding hydrostatics and statics, including an explanation of the principle

of the lever (O’Connor & Robertson, 1996).

Thales of Miletus, was the first individual to whom a mathematical discovery was

attributed. He’s best known for his work in calculating the heights of pyramids and the distance of

the ships from the shore using geometry. Lastly, Aristotle had a diverse knowledge over various

areas including mathematics, geology, physics, metaphysics, biology, medicine and psychology.

He was a pupil of Plato therefore it’s not a surprise that he had a vast knowledge and made

contributions towards Platonism. Tutored Alexander the Great and established a library which

aided in the production of hundred of books.

E. Important Events

In 450 BCE, Greeks began to use written numerals. Also at this time Greek were

known to use paradoxes probably to point out inconsistencies in Pythagorean positions.

One of the most famous is this: The fleeing and slower runner can never be overtaken by

the faster, pursuer because the faster must first reach the point where the slower is at a that

time, but by then the slower will be some distance ahead. Other paradoxes made the same

or apposite points, but, in fact, mathematical analysis shows that infinite aggregates and

the nature of the continuum are not self-contradictory but only counter to intuition. Since

the Greeks were known to have contributed greatly to the field of logic and reasoning it is

with their paradoxes that they thrived.

The formation of Greek city states began with the Mycenaean civilization. By 500

BC, many more civilizations would later form around the area in Greece. These city states
are later going to be relevant

to the Persian Wars because

most city states choose either

the Persian or Greek side in

the war.

Athens, the place

where knowledge thrived was


Figure 9. Formation of city-states
where philosophers like Plato

and Aristotle made their home. On the adverse side, the military prowess of the Greeks

continued to thrive in the city of Sparta where the warriors were feared all throughout the

region (Hornblower, 2019).

The first “date” in Greek history is 776 BCE, the year of the first Olympic Games.

The ancient games were originally set to be a religious festival, held in honour of Zeus, the

king of the gods. There were no gold, silver and bronze medals, only later on that events

such as a footrace, a javelin contest, and wrestling matches were added. The Olympic

Games were a series of athletic competitions among representatives of city-states and it is

said that even the demi-god Heracles or Hercules was a part of these games.

The unification of the Greek population began when the formation of the polis

started. The name given to polis formation by the Greeks themselves was synoikismos,

literally a “gathering together.” Synoikismos could take one or both of two forms—it could

be a physical concentration of the population in a single city or an act of purely political

unification that allowed the population to continue living in a dispersed way. A polis was
the typical structure of a community in the ancient Greek world. A polis consisted of an

urban centre, often fortified and with a sacred centre built on a natural acropolis or harbour,

which controlled a surrounding territory (chora) of land (Ibid.).


References
Anonymous. (2014). The Civilization of Ancient Rome. TimeMaps website. Retrieved from
https://www.timemaps.com/civilizations/ancient-rome/ on July 25, 2019
Hellenic Statistical Authority. (2010). Statistical Yearbook of Greece 2009 & 2010. p. 27.
Hornblower, S. (2019). Ancient Greek civilization. Brittanica website. Retrieved from
https://www.britannica.com/place/ancient-Greece on July 25, 2019.
Mastin, Luke. (2010). Greek Mathematics. The Story of Mathematics website. Retrieved from
https://www.storyofmathematics.com/greek.html on July 26, 2019

O'Connor, J.J.; Robertson, E.F. (February 1996). "A history of calculus". University of St
Andrews.
Ostermann, Alexander; Wanner, Gerhard (2012). Geometry by Its History. Springer. pp. 3–7.
ISBN 978-3-642-29163-0. (online copy, p. 3, at Google Books)
Willis, P. (2017). Notable Contributions Made by Pythagoras to Know on Pythagorean Theorem
Day. Study.com website. Retrieved from https://study.com/blog/notable-contributions-
made-by-pythagoras-to-know-on-pythagorean-theorem-day.html on July 25, 2019

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