A01=Eleanor Robson
Accountant
Accounting
Addition
Akkadian language
And/or
Andor
Archaeological context
Archaeology
Assur
Author_Eleanor Robson
Babylonia
Babylonian mathematics
Calculation
Category=PBX
Clay tablet
Counting
Courtesy
Cuneiform script
Decipherment
Diagram
Early Period
Ebla
Enlil
Ephemeris
Epigraphy
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
Greek mathematics
Instance (computer science)
Jargon
Larsa
Lexical lists
Literacy
Literature
Manuscript
Marduk
Mathematical problem
Mathematician
Mathematics
Measurement
Mesopotamia
Metrology
Month
Multiplication table
Narrative
Neolithic
Nippur
Notation
Numeracy
Numeral (linguistics)
Parchment
Pedagogy
Plimpton 322
Positional notation
Prediction
Proverb
Publication
Quantity
R.
Regular number
Result
Sexagesimal
Shekel
Sippar
Sumerian language
Sumerian literature
Technology
Terminology
Textuality
Third Dynasty of Ur
Uruk
Verb
Writing
Year
Zagros Mountains
Product details
- ISBN 9780691091822
- Weight: 794g
- Dimensions: 152 x 235mm
- Publication Date: 28 Sep 2008
- Publisher: Princeton University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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This monumental book traces the origins and development of mathematics in the ancient Middle East, from its earliest beginnings in the fourth millennium BCE to the end of indigenous intellectual culture in the second century BCE when cuneiform writing was gradually abandoned. Eleanor Robson offers a history like no other, examining ancient mathematics within its broader social, political, economic, and religious contexts, and showing that mathematics was not just an abstract discipline for elites but a key component in ordering society and understanding the world. The region of modern-day Iraq is uniquely rich in evidence for ancient mathematics because its prehistoric inhabitants wrote on clay tablets, many hundreds of thousands of which have been archaeologically excavated, deciphered, and translated. Drawing from these and a wealth of other textual and archaeological evidence, Robson gives an extraordinarily detailed picture of how mathematical ideas and practices were conceived, used, and taught during this period. She challenges the prevailing view that they were merely the simplistic precursors of classical Greek mathematics, and explains how the prevailing view came to be.
Robson reveals the true sophistication and beauty of ancient Middle Eastern mathematics as it evolved over three thousand years, from the earliest beginnings of recorded accounting to complex mathematical astronomy. Every chapter provides detailed information on sources, and the book includes an appendix on all mathematical cuneiform tablets published before 2007.
Eleanor Robsonis reader in ancient Middle Eastern science at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Darwin College, Cambridge. Her books include Mesopotamian Mathematics, 2100-1600 BC and, edited with Jacqueline Stedall, The Oxford Handbook of the History of Mathematics.
