Mathematical Commentaries in the Ancient World

Karine Chemla is Senior Researcher at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), in the laboratory SPHERE (CNRS & University of Paris) and focuses, from the viewpoint of historical anthropology, on the relationship between mathematics and the various cultures in the context of which it is practiced. Glenn. W. Most retired in November 2020 as Professor of Greek Philology at the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. He remains a regular Visiting Professor on the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago and an External Scientific Member of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin.

• 1. Introduction: Why study mathematical commentaries? Karine Chemla and Glenn W. Most; Commentators at Work: 2. Philosophical commentaries on mathematical texts: The case of Proclus' commentary on the first book of Euclid's Elements Orna Harari; 3. Characterizing a Sanskrit mathematical commentary: An exploration of Pṛthūdaka's Vāsanābhāṣya on progressions Agathe Keller; 4. Calling out Zheng Xuan (127–200 CE) at the crossroads of ritual, mathematics, sport, and classical commentary Daniel Patrick Morgan; Comparing Commentaries: 5. Astral commentaries within the Mesopotamian received tradition: The Commentary to Enūma Anu Enlil 14 and Šumma Sîn ina Tāmartišu Zackary Wainer and John Steele; 6. Contrasting commentaries and contrasting subcommentaries on mathematical and Confucian canons. Intentions and mathematical practices Karine Chemla and Zhu Yiwen.

'… particularly valuable are the excerpts from sources attached as an appendix with translation and commentary to each chapter and followed by individual glossaries of the most important technical or conceptual terms. … The volume exemplifies what can be done with this genre of scientific text and thereby provides a stimulating point of departure for further studies.' Annette Imhausen, Bryn Mawr Classical Review