A study of writing /

Includes bibliographical references (pages 254-268) and index.Mode of access: Internet

Inscriptions from Alishar and vicinity /

"Researches in Anatolia--vol. VI.""The material now presented includes Cappadocian, Sumerian, Hittite hieroglyphic, Greek and Arabic inscriptions. Of these by far the most numerous are the Cappadocian tests."--Pref."The early history of eastern Asia Minor": p. 1-18."Abbreviations and symbols. Books and periodicals": p. xiii-xiv

Old Akkadian inscriptions in Chicago Natural History Museum; texts of legal and business interest /

v.44:no.2 (1955

Mathematics, Administrative and Economic Activities in Ancient Worlds

International audienceThis book focuses on the ancient Near East, early imperial China, South-East Asia, and medieval Europe, shedding light on mathematical knowledge and practices documented by sources relating to the administrative and economic activities of officials, merchants and other actors. It compares these to mathematical texts produced in related school contexts or reflecting the pursuit of mathematics for its own sake to reveal the diversity of mathematical practices in each of these geographical areas of the ancient world. Based on case studies from various periods and political, economic and social contexts, it explores how, in each part of the world discussed, it is possible to identify and describe the different cultures of quantification and computation as well as their points of contact. The thirteen chapters draw on a wide variety of texts from ancient Near East, China, South-East Asia and medieval Europe, which are analyzed by researchers from various fields, including mathematics, history, philology, archaeology and economics. The book will appeal to historians of science, economists and institutional historians of the ancient and medieval world, and also to Assyriologists, Indologists, Sinologists and experts on medieval Europe

Mathematics, Administrative and Economic Activities in Ancient Worlds: An Introduction

International audienceThe chapter outlines a research program on the relationships between mathematics, administrative and economic activities in ancient worlds, and it draws on the various chapters in the book to illustrate the benefits that can be derived from this program. The overall goal is to provide a better understanding of the role mathematical knowledge and practices played in allowing various types of practitioners to carry out managerial and economic activities in the ancient worlds. Moreover, the purpose is to provide a more precise understanding of how, and the extent to which the bodies of knowledge and the practices of mathematics reflected by these administrative and economic sources were linked to those attested by more strictly mathematical sources. To fulfil these aims, we suggest focusing on the practices of quantification and computation attested to in specific administrative and economic activities, and also on the contexts in which they were carried out. After a survey of the sources on which the chapters of the book draw, and some of the social milieus considered, we present the specific activities on which the bookconcentrates. First, we argue that the practice of regulations, laws and norms, as attested to by texts produced in various milieus, highlights the intimate relationship that ties some more strictly mathematical sources and documents of practice (Sect. 1.4). We then deal with various ways in which documents of practice reflect the quantification of spatial entities and, in particular, of work (Sect. 1.5). We also show how more strictly mathematical sources allow us to interpret these practices of quantification. Subsequently, we turn to the quantification of land and other surfaces, and underline the diversity of mathematical practices to which various sources attest to carry out this task (Sect. 1.6). Finally, an examination of the quantification and computation of prices, loans and interest, and the assessment of the values of coins allows us to shed light on the diversity of mathematical cultures embraced by the various actors who engaged in these activities (Sect. 1.7)

A Comparative Study of Prices and Wages in Royal Inscriptions, Administrative Texts and Mathematical Texts in the Old Babylonian Kingdom of Larsa

International audienceMathematical knowledge and practices in Ancient Mesopotamia vary according to the milieus under consideration. This paper deals with the numerical data—prices and wages—used in texts produced in different contexts and for different purposes. It focuses on the corpus of the kingdom of Larsa (Tell es-Senkereh), in southern Mesopotamia, for which we have a large number of texts of various genres for the Old Babylonian period (twentieth-eighteenth centuries BCE). Three different types of texts that mention prices and wages are taken into account: royal inscriptions, mathematical texts and administrative texts. A comparison between prices and wages recorded in royal inscriptions and those provided by administrative and economic texts show that kings wanted to control prices and claimed to pay high wages to their workers, by providing data which are different from those found in texts of practice. In contrast, collections of laws reflect the determination of the sovereign to act as a just king. The numerical values mentioned in these texts are similar to those in the administrative texts and the mathematical texts which also rely on real numerical values. Since mathematical problems were inspired by the organization of the work for large construction projects ordered by kings at the end of the third and beginning of the second millennia BCE, they also rely on real numerical values

The Measurement of Fields During the Pre-sargonic Period

International audienc