A comprehensive edition and commentary of a late antique codex
Mathematics, Metrology, and Model Contracts is a comprehensive edition
and commentary of a late antique codex. The codex contains mathematical
problems, metrological tables, and model contracts. Given the nature of
the contents, the format, and quality of the Greek, the editors conclude
that the codex most likely belonged to a student in a school devoted to
training business agents and similar professionals.
The editors present here the first full scholarly edition of the text,
with complete discussions of the provenance, codicology, and philology
of the surviving manuscript. They also provide extensive notes and
illustrations for the mathematical problems and model contracts, as well
as historical commentary on what this text reveals about late antique
numeracy, literacy, education, and vocational training in what we would
now see as business, law, and administration.
The book will be of interest to papyrologists and scholars who are
interested in the history and culture of late antiquity, the history of
education, literacy, the ancient economy, and the history of science and
mathematics.