The Catalogus geometrarum from the Corpus Agrimensorum

What is it about?

The opening of an early Greek commentary on the famous astronomical poem by Aratus was translated very badly into Latin in late antiquity. This translation mentions 'Euclid the Sicilian': this may be a new, previously unknown author, but the context in which the reference is found and a number of suggestive mistakes in earlier literature offer the possibility that 'Euclid the Sicilian' is a reference to the famous geometer, whose birthplace is otherwise not recorded.

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Photo by Dawid Małecki on Unsplash

Photo by Dawid Małecki on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Investigation of this possibility forces us to confront the problematic nature of the biographical information that is preserved elsewehere for Euclid, and invites us to consider him in his wider Mediterranean context.