Mathematics in ancient Iraq
Subtitle: a social history
By: Eleanor Robson.
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2008
Place of publication: Princeton, N.J
Language: eng
Number of pages: 441
ISBN-13: 9780691091822
Subjects: Mathematics, Ancient -- Iraq -- History; Mathematics -- Iraq -- History
First sentence: Iraq - Sumer - Babylonia - Mesopotamia: under any or all of these names almost every general textbook on the history of mathematics assigns the origins of 'pure' mathematics to the distant past of the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
Description: Mixes archaeological and social (including textual and linguistic) detail to trace the development and use of mathematics in ancient Iraq over the last three centuries BCE.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [373]-407) and indexes.
Table of contents: title: List of Figures
pagenum: xi; title: List of Tables
pagenum: xvii; title: Preface
pagenum: xxi; title: Acknowledgements
pagenum: xxv; label: 1
title: Scope, Methods, Sources
pagenum: 1; label: 1.1
title: The Subject: Ancient Ireq and Its Mathematics
pagenum: 1; label: 1.2
title: The Artefacts: Assyriological and Mathematical Analysis
pagenum: 8; label: 1.3
title: The Contexts: Textuality, Materiality, and Social History
pagenum: 17; label: 2
title: Before the Mid-Third Millennium
pagenum: 27; label: 2.1
title: Background and Evidence
pagenum: 28; label: 2.2
title: Quantitavie Management and Emerging Statehood
pagenum: 33; label: 2.3
title: Enumeration and Abstraction
pagenum: 40; label: 2.4
title: Symmetry, Geometry, and Visual Culture
pagenum: 45; label: 2.5
title: Conclusions
pagenum: 51; label: 3
title: The Later Third Millennium
pagenum: 54; label: 3.1
title: Background and Evidence
pagenum: 55; label: 3.2
title: Maps, Plans, and Itineraries:  Visual and Textual Representations of Spatial Relationships
pagenum: 60; label: 3.3
title: Accounting for Time and Labour:  Approximation, Standardisation, Prediction
pagenum: 67; label: 3.4
title: The Development of the Sexagesimal Place Value System (SPVS)
pagenum: 75; label: 3.5
title: Conclusions
pagenum: 83; label: 4
title: The Early Second Millennium
pagenum: 85; label: 4.1
title: Background and Evidence
pagenum: 86; label: 4.2
title: Metrology, Multiplication, Memorisation: Elementary Mathematics Education
pagenum: 97; label: 4.3
title: Words and Pictures, Reciprocals and Squares
pagenum: 106; label: 4.4
title: Measurement, Justice, and the Ideology of Kingship
pagenum: 115; label: 4.5
title: Conclusions
pagenum: 123; label: 5
title: Assyria
pagenum: 125; label: 5.1
title: Background and Evidence
pagenum: 126; label: 5.2
title: Palatial and Mercantile Numeracy in Early Assyria
pagenum: 129; label: 5.3
title: Counting Heads, Marking Time: Quantifications in Royal Inscriptions and Records
pagenum: 136; label: 5.4
title: Aru: Number Manipulation in Neo-Assyrian Scholarship
pagenum: 143; label: 5.5
title: Conclusions
pagenum: 149; label: 6
title: The Later Second Millennium
pagenum: 151; label: 6.1
title: Background and Evidence
pagenum: 151; label: 6.2
title: Tabular Accounting in Southern Babylonia
pagenum: 157; label: 6.3
title: Land Surveyors and Their Records in Northern Babylonia
pagenum: 166; label: 6.4
title: Quantification as Literary Device in the Epic of Gilgames
pagenum: 177; label: 6.5
title: Conclusions
pagenum: 181; label: 7
title: The Early First Millenium
pagenum: 183; label: 7.1
title: Background and Evidence
pagenum: 184; label: 7.2
title: Libraries and Schools:  The Formalisation of the First-Millennium Scribal Curriculum
pagenum: 192; label: 7.3
title: Home Economics: Numeracy in a Mid-First-Millennium Urban Household
pagenum: 198; label: 7.4
title: Measuring Houses, Maintaining Professionalism
pagenum: 206; label: 7.5
title: Conclusions
pagenum: 212; label: 8
title: The Later First Millenium
pagenum: 214; label: 8.1
title: Background and Evidence
pagenum: 215; label: 8.2
title: Babylon:  Mathematics in the Service of Astronomy?
pagenum: 220; label: 8.3
title: Achaemenid Uruk:  The Sangu-Ninurta and Ekur-zakir Families
pagenum: 227; label: 8.4
title: Selucid Uruk:  The Hunzu and Sin-leqi-unninni Families
pagenum: 240; label: 8.5
title: Conclusions
pagenum: 260; label: 9
title: Epilogue
pagenum: 263; label: 9.1
title: The Big Picture:  Three Millennia of Mathematics in Ancient Iraq
pagenum: 263; label: 9.2
title: Ancient Mathematics in the Modern World
pagenum: 268; label: 9.3
title: Inside Ancient Mathematics: Translation, Representation, Interpretation
pagenum: 274; label: 9.4
title: The Worlds of Ancient Mathematics: History, Society, Community
pagenum: 284; label: 9.5
title: Conclusions
pagenum: 288; title: Appendix A: Metrological Systems
pagenum: 291; title: Appendix B: Pulished Mathematicsl Tablets
pagenum: 299; title: Notes
pagenum: 342; title: Bibliography
pagenum: 373; title: Index of Tablets
pagenum: 409; title: Subject Index
pagenum: 425