The Royal Institution
The Royal InstitutionA two-minute animated adventure to Ancient Greece and back again – voiced by Numberphile’s James Grime!
Often called the “birthplace of civilisation”, Ancient Greece heralded numerous advances in philosophy, science, sport and also mathematics. Over six centuries from 600 BC a group of revolutionary thinkers — from Thales, Pythagoras, Democritus and Aristotle to Euclid, Archimedes and Hypatia of Alexandria — formalised the rules and language of modern mathematics.
For Greek thinkers, maths wasn’t simply a means of calculating amounts but a way of testing reality and understanding the true nature of the world around them. Indeed, Pythagoras is believed to have coined both the words “philosophy” (“love of wisdom”) and “mathematics” (“that which is learned”). In turn, Euclid came to be known as the “father of geometry”.
At the heart of this new understanding, was the concept of “the proof”, developed by Euclid in what is commonly regarded as the most important and successful mathematical textbook of all time — the “Stoicheion” or “Elements”. Built upon the axiomatic method, mathematical proofs were a way of testing assumptions by building up a mathematical argument using self-evident or assumed statements (or, “axioms”).
It is this methodology that formed the foundational language and logic of modern mathematics throughout the world. Indeed, Euclid’s Elements was widely used as the seminal maths textbook right up until the start of the twentieth century.
Many thanks to James Grime for his expert help on the script and recording the voice-over. Follow him @jamesgrime or find out more at http://singingbanana.com.
Thanks also to the wonderful 12foot6 and Phoebe Halstead for bringing our ideas to life in animated form: http://12foot6.com. Music by Bedřich Smetana: Má Vlast Moldau
This film was made with the generous support of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation http://www.snf.org
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44 Comments
@ciccioiona4591
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMHypatia was Roman
@maxschon7709
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMProblem : the greeke Had No arabic Numbers, No mathematical signs Like + or – .
@HandsomeStranger1963
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMPythagoras's theorem was carved into the inside of a pyramid more than 2000yrs before Pythagoras lived. as is the value of phi.
pilfering from the great library… really.😵
we can read hieroglyphs now.
@scientist23wannabe_23
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMI am a proud Greek. Unfortunately st school no one ever emphasizes enough the importance of math in our culture and name it "technocratic knowledge", neglecting the fact that it suggests a way of problem solving thinking and brings us closer to the truth
@BruceKent00
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMExcept the Romans shaped the world, not the insignificant greeks
@itsoblivion8124
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMgreece lost its strong mathamatical culture and has utmost no significant contributions to modern science like they haven't won any Field medal,abel prize and fundamental physics prize (ironically field medal has picture of a greek man Archimedes)
whereas India and china have still maintains their mathamatical culture. Especially India has strong foundational contributions to statistics with English men while chinese like shing tao has contributions to higher mathamatics just like indian mathamaticians ramanujan and harischandra.
@williamrutiser1485
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AM😊😊😊
@fightfannerd2078
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMThey had algebra
@Chris.Davidson99836
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMEveryone who is educated knows that behind everything is Greece or Greek spirit
@arunjetli7909
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMEuclid was Egyptian nit Greek. Did not found modern mathematics. Modern math comes from zero negative numbers , trig and infinite series. PleSe stop the worship of the Greeks who were mathematically challenged Euclidean proofs are not necessary for mathematics
@tayo8132
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMThe ancient egyptians thaught the greeks
@azfarahsan
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMDr grimes voice is as smooth as butter
@shoot4thesingle
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMaxiomatic math
@pranayg8092
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMTry ancient India math bro's 😏
@emilyrichardson3816
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMThat’s nice but did you know Geico can save you 15% or more on car insurance?
@hellohellohistory7727
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMI love this ancient Greek science 🙂 Great compact clip touches on many important moments.
@vladkondratyuk1942
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMI prefer agoge education instead lol
@mariaheizels.agujar6658
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMVery informative, I like it I'd like to use this in my class! Is that okay?
@Platepalate88
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMHeard of Pingala? ? Because Greek just stole all the work from indian scholars
@oddtuba8487
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMMe : Ok Ok
My ears: UnfeufNIFUEINEifbsnsiefsnNFIEjnf
@davianjanvierto4679
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMWhen you draw , you also use mathematic figures.
@lalitmarwaha4291
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMJames grime
@panamacruzer4337
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMThe greeks were the evolutionary thinkers, really? They didn't revolutionize anything BUT they learned from the African Kemites. Just look at your dates. The Pyramids were built by the Africans thousands of years before any greek was around. Stop these lies and give my ancestors the credit they deserve. The Africans taught you and fed you so much knowledge without rejection and the least you can do is respect them enough to acknowledge them for doing so. Africa is the BIRTH PLACE of math, science, reading etc….. DO YOUR RESEARCH!
@arzoo_singh
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMActually most of the work In math and various filelds the credit should go on India, but rather we see it as Greek work .
Why saying so ?
we are made to believe that there is inward flow of knowledge rather its outward flow .Let me explain this.
The Greeks and Indian have interacted before Christ's Birth ,
There are many stories of many Greek scholars studying in Indian universities .
Many Ancient Indian books were found in Many European library and then used as a reference point or some were stolen ideas.
Its a shame India has to fight for its intellectual rights .
@marcuswada877
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMBravo
@benquinney2
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMThe one solution
@thanasissaloukas9453
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMAlgebra is from muslims. We did the Geometry
@MrTacosBD
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMI came here cause I was told muslims invented algebra
@khadimdia4591
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMall those greeks philosophy get their. education to Africa in kmt. when aridtol, pitagor , socrate, homer etc .the time those. greek come back home the greekd people s don't. know. what they. teaching . why socrate end up in prison. and die why the other greek. philosophys runaway.
@khadimdia4591
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMPlease mathematics don't come From greek please . the meaning of. math from maat from Africa. kemet my brother please read your history Wright thanks
@Pontiki1977
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMOur ancestors did magnificent things and helped the world advance but as a Greek i have to say that growing up here they teach us that Greeks basically invented absolutely everything.Not a mention about brilliant ancient civilizations like assyrians,chinese or anyone else.This led this place to become a small minded egocentric state resulting in the current horrible situation.
@kostasantonopoulos1478
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@geoellinas
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMA short video but very essential. Modern Greeks are not so worthy of our ancestors in the philosophy of life.
@DamienLaRocque
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMWait! Did i just heard Die Moldau in a video about ancient greek mathematics?
@voveve
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMI know this voice!!!!!!!!
@TyYann
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMNice video. The golden rectangle on the Parthenon at the end is quite unfortunate, though, as it reinforces the myth of phi in Greek architecture. But except that, I like it.
@L00NGB00W
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMAnd now they're drowning in debt… What happened?
@bloody_albatross
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMI read "The Geek Legacy" first.
@SamuelJFord
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMIt's the numberphile guy!
@Artifactorfiction
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AM… and a great salad
@I30T
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMAnd guess who destroyed this progress for 1000 years
@unvergebeneid
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMGood to hear you, James Grime 🙂
@rrozinak
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMGreat video but you should give credits to Smetana for the music in the background 😉
@TheRoyalInstitution
03/09/2025 - 11:51 AMHow did the Ancient Greeks revolutionise mathematics? Find out in just two minutes with James Grime The Greek Legacy: How the Ancient Greeks shaped modern mathematics