The Agrimensores and Roman Mathematics

The Agrimensores and Roman Mathematics (AgRoMa) will transform our understanding of the intellectual world of Greco-Roman antiquity and mathematical accomplishments of the Romans by establishing a new textual basis and contextual framework for the study of the overlooked Roman mathematical tradition, producing the first complete critical edition, translation, and commentary of the collection of practical mathematical problems attributed to Epaphroditus and Vitruvius Rufus (EVR). Practical mathematics is a key area of ancient science, but the history of this tradition in the Latin-speaking Roman world has been largely ignored. The problem collection of EVR survives among the late-antique collections of Roman surveyors' manuals known as the Corpus Agrimensorum Romanorum (CAR). CAR is fundamental to our understanding of Roman civilization, from land-use and bureaucracy to law and colonisation, but the practical mathematical tradition of the Romans has been overlooked by classicists and historians of science because existing editions of CAR omit this material, thus obscuring the true character of CAR and its historical significance for the exact sciences. The problem collection of EVR demonstrates that the intellectual horizons of the Roman land surveyors (agrimensores) stretched beyond practical mensuration, encompassing a sophisticated, integrative concept of mathematics embracing geometry and arithmetic. The mathematical texts of CAR show how these agents of empire cultivated mathematical knowledge as an intellectual exercise and marker of professional status, engaging creatively with Greek mathematics to create an independent tradition grounded in their own socio-cultural reality. New work on ancient practical mathematics, currently dominated by Greek perspectives, makes a reassessment of the Roman tradition particularly pressing. EVR provides vital new evidence that illuminates the context and sources of some of the most important Greek-speaking engineers and mathematicians of the Roman empire, including Hero of Alexandria, a pioneer of robotics, and Diophantus of Alexandria, the father of modern algebra, both subjects of recent major scholarly reassessments. The study of CAR itself is experiencing a renewal, with new editions of many surveyors' manuals planned or in print. AgRoMa provides the necessary complement to these studies by making the full range of evidence for the surveyors' mathematical education and interests available for the first time. The commentary accompanying AgRoMa's critical edition will chart how a group of sub-elite practitioners creatively re-fashioned the literary and structural forms of their Greek mathematical sources to forge a specialised vocabulary, new modes of exposition, and new problems based on Roman units of measurement. AgRoMa will thus re-define the scientific significance of CAR and revolutionize our understanding of practical mathematics in the Greco-Roman world. AgRoMa is the first element of an ambitious plan to further the study of Roman mathematics and its medieval legacy, building scholarly capacity and public interest to support such work. AgRoMa will result in a major published edition, online database, new Unicode standards, seminars and workshops, and orient findings towards educational audiences by developing activities to support the National Curriculum. Using AgRoMa as a career catalyst, the team will employ the knowledge and experience generated to promote future study of the Roman mathematical tradition.