Jeff—Saturday
I’m well into my physical therapy routine, and all seems to
be going well with the shoulder (puh puh puh). Almost four months down, two
months to go. I must admit that when I
left for Mykonos from New York City (and abandoned the Hospital for Special
Surgery’s state of the art rehab facility), I was more than a bit concerned about
the sort of therapy I’d find on an island in the middle of the Aegean that
doesn’t even have a hospital.
I had nothing to worry about. I’m so impressed with the
progress I’ve made through the efforts of my therapist, that I’m willing to recommend
those in need of shoulder rehab to seriously consider coming to Mykonos for the
last four months of your program. Preferably in the summer.
And if you’re a writer, my therapist comes with an
unexpected bonus. He has wonderful tales to tell of Greece, the island, and its
people. No violations of
therapist-patient confidentiality, mind you, just a treasure trove of ideas for
characters and plot lines. And then there are all those ideas for blog posts,
like this one.
What I’m about to write is not what I’d originally
intended. Today has seen a bit of
cataclysmic political theater in the Greek government (something we in the US
are all too familiar with on a daily basis).
All hell broke loose over a proposed deal agreed upon by Greece’s Prime
Minister with his counterpart in neighboring F.Y.R.O.M. (Former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia). Among the hot-button
issues raising the hackles on the backs of the necks of a majority of Greeks is
that the deal allows FYROM to call itself “North Macedonia,” and all that flows
from that. Why that is so significant to
the Greeks ties directly into the essence of how they see themselves.
The proposed deal led Greece’s primary opposition party to
call for a no-confidence vote in Parliament, and that vote is scheduled for today,
Saturday (likely to fail as of this posting). It also prompted representatives
of the Neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn (the third largest party in Greece’s
Parliament) to call for the military to stage a coup and arrest the Prime
Minister, among others. That led to those representatives being expelled. As I said, there’s a lot going on for me to
wax on about Greek politics.
But I’m taking a pass on that. Frankly, I’m tapped-out reading
about what’s going on in the US and the UK, and I’m guessing many of you are
too. So, I’m going to follow up on a recommendation from my PT guru (as he pulled
and pushed my arm into positions I never though possible) that I Google
“Ancient Greek Geometry.”
His suggestion came after pointing out how gifted ancient
Greeks were at understanding the way our world worked. Since there seems to be a dearth of such folks
hanging around in governments today, that sounded like a pretty good topic. So,
here goes.
The ancients believed that the omphalos, or “navel” of the earth lay in Delphi, and many revered
places in Greece were described in relation to their relative proximity to Delphi,
e.g., the Temple of Poseidon at Sounion, the holy island of Delos, and the
Acropolis. He said that even his home village of Amfissa, close by Dephi,
thought of itself in relation to such sacred places. As measured on a straight line, Amfissa lay
equidistant between Mount Olympus, the tallest mountain in Greece and sacred
place of the gods, and storied Mount Taygetus (aka Prophet Ilias), the tallest
mountain in the Peloponnese.
Omphalos of Delphi |
But, how could the ancients have accomplished such
measurements in the absence of satellites and mapping software?
Answer: Geometry.
The Greeks did not invent geometry (though perhaps “discover”
is a more appropriate word); credit for that accolade goes to the Egyptians and
Babylonians (with Indians getting at least an honorable mention), but the
Greeks most certainly took it from its rudimentary roots and turned it into a
science.
Thales |
It was Pythagoras (582-500 BCE) who turned it into a true
science, naming it mathematics (meaning “that which is learned”), and even saw
the numerical relationships of the musical scale.
Pythagoras |
Perhaps the most recognized name in the development of
geometry is Plato (427-347 BCE). Best known as a philosopher, he established
his Academy in Athens and inscribed over its doors the school motto, “Let no one ignorant
of geometry enter.” (Some dispute that story, but not the point being made.) Interestingly, although Socrates (c. 470-399) was not a fan of
mathematics, Plato believed in teaching the Socratic method at his Academy as a
preliminary discipline to the study of mathematics.
Plato |
Of
all the mathematicians in Greece, the one with the most long lasting influence
turned out to be Plato’s student, Aristotle (384-322 BCE). Aristotle laid down principles that Europeans
continued to hold as the basis of all knowledge long after other Greek learning
had fallen out of favor.
Aristotle contemplating a bust of Plato--Rembrandt |
Other
notable Greek geometry whizzes included Euclid (c.325-270 BCE), also called the
father of Geometry by some, though he came along 200 years after Thales; Archimedes
(287-212 BCE)—who can forget his bathtub experiment, one I think of every time
I cause a bowl to overflow; and of course, Eratosthenes, who more than two
thousand years ago proved the world was round by putting a stick in the ground
and measuring its shadow. NASA proved it
more recently with a satellite…coming up with virtually the identical
measurement as Eratsothenes.
Euclid |
Archimedes--Domenico Fetti |
Eratsothenes |
Sadly,
Greece’s contributions to the study of geometry and mathematics fell away
around the time of the destruction of the Great Library at Alexandra.
Alas,
history once again taught us that giving up on a science-based world has far
ranging effects on the development of civilizations. Hmm. Perhaps
that’s the message my PT guy was trying to get across to me. If so, he didn’t have to twist my arm to do
it. :)
Thank
you, Niko Drivas.
—Jeff
Nice post. Bringing up my study of geometry and trigonometry. The Pythagorean theorum comes to mind.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see that the Golden Dawn representatives were thrown out of Parliament. It's long overdue.
What's going on in Italy is perturbing, a new alliance government with The League, a far-right, anti-immigrant party.
Thanks, Kathy. First of all, sorry about the delay in responding, but we're having some technical issues with the site that doesn't notify us when a comment posts. Ah yes, the Samos guy Pythagoras...even has a town named after him on his native island. Not sure how meaningful the Golden Dawn ejection will be as the betting money is they'll do much better in whenever the next election is held because of protest voters, thinking "what harm can it do." Welcome to our populist world.
DeleteAs for what's going on in Italy...see my above last sentence. Sad, difficult times.
Thanks, Jeff. Glad to see you're a mathematician at heart! The Greeks did a great job on what is known today as Euclidean Geometry and also laid the foundation for rigorous proof. But it was the Arab world that gets the credit for algebra. And the Indians invented the zero. Frankly, after the Greeks, the western world took a back seat.
ReplyDeleteI actually did quite well in school in math...until hitting differential equations--and let's not go there. Yes, The Arabs and the Indians do get credit...as I think I said at the beginning of the post. Perhaps we can organize the whole mess of them to find some way to fix this $#@% technical problem with our site!
DeleteMy brother, geometry has always been my favorite branch of math, the only one I was ever a whiz at once I got into the heady (over my head) precincts beyond algebra.
ReplyDeleteI also hasten to add that Archemides was, like my paternal grandparents, a Siracusan. Viva La Grecia! Viva Sicilia!
VIVA MY SIS. :)
ReplyDelete