Numbers and Numeracy in the Greek Polis

by: Sing, R. Van Berkel, T.A. Osborne, R.

We tend to think of numbers as inherently objective and precise. Yet the diverse ways in which ancient Greeks used numbers illustrates that counting is actually shaped by context-specific and culturally-dependent choices: what should be counted and how, who should count, and how should the results be shared? This volume is the first to focus on the generation and use of numbers in the polis to quantify, communicate and persuade. Its papers demonstrate the rich insights that can be gained into ancient Greek societies by reappraising seemingly straightforward examples of quantification as reflections of daily life and cultural understandings.

Front Matter
Preliminary Material
Editors: Robert Sing, Tazuko Angela van Berkel, and Robin Osborne
Pages: i–xiii
Editors: Robert Sing, Tazuko Angela van Berkel, and Robin Osborne
Acknowledgements
Editors: Robert Sing, Tazuko Angela van Berkel, and Robin Osborne
Abbreviations
Editors: Robert Sing, Tazuko Angela van Berkel, and Robin Osborne
Notes on Contributors
Editors: Robert Sing, Tazuko Angela van Berkel, and Robin Osborne
Introduction Doing Things with Numbers
Authors: Robert Sing, Tazuko Angela van Berkel, and Robin Osborne
Pages: 1–23
Part 1 Numbers in Society
Chapter 1 A Counting People: Valuing Numeracy in Democratic Athens
Author: Lisa Kallet
Pages: 27–57
Chapter 2 The Appearance of Numbers
Author: Robin Osborne
Pages: 58–77
Chapter 3 Punishing and Valuing
Author: Steven Johnstone
Pages: 78–95
Chapter 4 Ten Thousand: Fines, Numbers and Institutional Change in Fifth-Century Athens
Author: Josine Blok
Pages: 96–130
Chapter 5 Numeric Communication in the Greek Historians: Quantification and Qualification
Author: Catherine Rubincam
Pages: 131–148
Part 2 Communicating with Numbers
Chapter 6 Creative Accounting? Strategies of Enumeration in Epinician Texts
Author: Daniel Mahendra Jan Sicka
Pages: 151–173
Chapter 7 Hidden Judgments and Failing Figures: Nicias? Number Rhetoric
Author: Tazuko Angela van Berkel
Pages: 174–194
Chapter 8 Performing Numbers in the Attic Orators
Author: Robert Sing
Pages: 195–215
Part 3 Conceptualising Number
Chapter 9 Numbers, Ontologically Speaking: Plato on Numerosity
Author: Florin George Calian
Pages: 219–236
Chapter 10 Doing Geometry without Numbers: Re-reading Euclid?s Elements
Author: Eunsoo Lee
Pages: 237–265
Back Matter
Indexes
Editors: Robert Sing, Tazuko Angela van Berkel, and Robin Osborne

Numbers and Numeracy in the Greek Polis

by: Sing, R. Van Berkel, T.A. Osborne, R.

• ISBN-13: 9789004467217 / 978-90-04-46721-7
• ISBN-03: 9004467211 / 90-04-46721-1
• E.J. Brill, Leiden, 2021