Greek Mathematicians: A Group Picture

Abstract

This chapter examines who the Greek mathematicians were by taking an imaginary group picture taken at a conference of ancient Greek mathematicians — a conference held in heaven, so that everyone is present, from classical times down to late antiquity. For this purpose, a mathematician is defined as one who has written down an original mathematical demonstration, no matter in what context. Two well-documented women in this group are Hypatia and Pandrosion. It is probably relevant that both of these examples are from late Alexandria, a place and a time where many old barriers were brought down. In general ancient women did not live strictly according to the expectation of either classical society or modern scholarship, and they were not always ‘silent’. The Greek mathematicians did not have faculties and conferences, a fact reflected by their form of presentation and ultimately by the contents of their mathematics.