COLOR: Math in Ancient Egypt


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Math in Ancient Egypt

The first great civilization of Africa arose along the northern stretch of the River Nile , where it cuts through desert terrain between the Red Sea to the east and the Sahara Desert to the west, before the waters spread out into a great delta and run into the Mediterranean Sea. Without the river, the land that we know as Egypt would not exist, for there is too little rainfall to support life.

By the fifth millennium B.C., various prehistoric cultures (see History of Africa) had developed along the banks of the Nile river . These eventually coalesced around 3000 BC into one of the world's first nation-state. The unique civilization that thus arose in Egypt had its roots in African soil, and remained closely connected through trade and conquest with areas further south on the African continent (see Time Table of Egypt History and History of Egypt).

At the same time, there was access to the Near East, and during the second millennium B.C., Egypt came to rank as a great power, ruling an empire that extended from Nubia in the south to Syria-Palestine in the north (see Map of Ancient Egypt). The ancient Egyptians were expert planners and builders of large structures like the pyramids.

The concepts of distance, area, weight, volume and time were all used by the Egyptians. Egypt also invented standards, units and methods of measurement (Pappademos 1984). The Egyptians also invented numerals, wrote several texts on math and other subjects, and contributed to other civilizations, including Greek, Roman, Arabian, and European.

26th Dynasty

The 26th Dynasty began in 663 B.C., when a shrewd Egyptian prince tricked the ruling Assyrians into leaving Egypt. By increasing business and trade with many neighboring cultures, including the Ionian Greeks, Egypt became a leading exporter of grain and a dominant power in the Mediterranean world. This brief period of independent rule lasted until 525 B.C., when the Persians overran Egypt.

Progress in African mathematics in the north east and central regions continued through many periods, including ancient Egyptian, Hellenistic, and Islamic rule. Although the language in which this progress in African mathematics was conveyed changed to suit the language of the rulers, (from Egyptian to Greek to Arabic), the tradition of African math and science continued to grow and florish. For example, Claudius Ptolemy (150 AD), the great astronomer who wrote in Greek, was known in early Arabic writings as an Upper Egyptian; and so too was Hypatia.

In AD 391, the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius I closed all "pagan" temples throughout the empire. This action terminated a four thousand year old tradition and the message of the ancient Egyptian language was lost for 1500 years, until the discovery of the Rosetta stone and the work of Jean-Francois Champollion (1790-1832).

Egypt lies between Africa and the Middle East. It is the largest country in the Arab world (see Map of Modern Egypt), and among African nations, is second in population only to Nigeria. Egypt is among the most influential of Arab states. Egypt is also struggling with enormous demographic and economic challenges (Cairo alone has more than 12,000,000 people).

History of Mathematics in Africa

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