Ancient Greece – Timeline
17 May 2025
Timeline of ancient greece Neolithic (New Stone Age) c.7000 BCE Early settlers begin farming in Greece. 3200-2300 BCE Cycladic culture on the
The Ancient Greeks were among the first people to use maths to make, quite literally, astronomical sums. Solar eclipses, the size of the Earth, even the distance to the Sun were all worked out over 2,000 years ago, well before the invention of the computer. The maths used was geometry and, with it, the Greeks were mighty mathematicians indeed.
The word ‘geometry’ is a Greek word, combining the words geo ‘earth’ and metros ‘measurement’ and that describes exactly what the Greeks used it for. They used it to measure difficult-to-measure objects, including the planet Earth!
2,200 years ago, a Greek called Eratosthenes knew that, at midsummer, once a year in the town of Syene in southern Egypt, the Sun shone straight down a well. This meant that the Sun was directly over the well. But he knew that it was never directly overhead at that time, on that day in Alexandria in northern Egypt. So he measured the length of the shadow of an upright pole in Alexandria at midday on midsummer and, using geometry, found that there was a difference of 7.2 degrees between the two towns.
Eratosthenes knew that the two towns were 5,000 stadia (a Greek measurement) apart, so he used geometry again to calculate the arc of the surface of the Earth and then he used that measurement to calculate the entire circumference of the Earth’s surface.
Historians aren’t sure how long the Greek measurement of stadia was, but it is likely that Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the Earth to 24,479 miles (39,395 km).
The real circumference is now known to be just less than 24,860 miles (40,008 km). Eratosthenes was very close!
That’s mighty maths indeed. All done with nothing but a pole, a well and knowledge of angles and geometry.
The Ancient Greeks believed that their gods were responsible for things that happened in the sky. Eclipses in particular were terrifying; when the Sun was blocked and day became as dark as night, surely the gods were angry. By proving that events like eclipses were the result of the constant movement of the Earth, Moon and Sun, mathematicians helped to take away that fear and make everyone’s lives easier.
Maths was also used to understand the world, to find patterns in nature and, for useful, practical purposes, to measure difficult distances and sizes.
There were many Ancient Greeks whose mathematical works became very famous.
Over 2,500 years ago Pythagoras wrote philosophy as well as mathematics, but his Pythagoras’ Theorem (‘the square of the hypotenuse equals the sum of the squares of the other two sides of a right-angled triangle’) is his most famous legacy.
2,400 years ago (in the 400s BC), a Greek called Euclid wrote a book called The Elements. In it, he used logic as well as maths to work out the rules for geometry. His rules were so good that they are still the origin of most of the geometry you learn in school today.
In the 200s BC, Archimedes wrote about the relationships between cylinders and spheres. He calculated many other mathematical formulas and even boasted, ‘give me a large enough lever and a place to stand and I will move the Earth’.
The scale of the Greeks’ maths was vast. Eratosthenes made many other measurements, including the accurate tilt of the Earth. He may even have been responsible for working out that the Sun was 804 million stadia away from the Earth. That probably makes it spot on at 93 million miles (150 million km).
The Romans conquered the Greeks in 146 BC, but they used maths for purely practical purposes, like road-building. However, an astonishing calculating machine from the Roman age proves that the great astronomical mathematics of the Greeks were still in use in 100 BC. Eighty broken pieces of 30 handmade bronze gears and cogs were discovered in a shipwreck by sponge divers in 1900. Now called the Antikythera mechanism, it is a staggering tribute to the skill of ancient mathematicians.
In 2006, these corroded bronze gears were x‑rayed and found to be marked with pointers for the Sun and the Moon (the ‘golden little sphere’ and ‘little sphere’). Other markings matched the zodiac constellations and solar calendars. The positions of the Sun, Moon and the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn could be found by turning a hand crank linked to a series of gears. Dials on the back of the machine even seem to predict solar and lunar eclipses. Remarkably, the Moon’s complex movement was predicted using two gears slightly out of line with each other. No one else would complete such complex calculations for another 1300 years. It’s amazing what mighty maths were achieved by those awesome ancient geeks, and their Roman successors.
To find out more about other xxxxxxxxx, then why not think about a subscription to AQUILA magazine!
Words: The AQUILA Team
Timeline of ancient greece Neolithic (New Stone Age) c.7000 BCE Early settlers begin farming in Greece. 3200-2300 BCE Cycladic culture on the
Awesome Ancient Greeks The Ancient Greeks were among the first people to use maths to make, quite literally, astronomical sums.
The Olympians 1. Name: Zeus Job title: Chief of the Olympian gods. Shenanigans: Came to power by overthrowing his dad,
The Beaufort Scale Sailors were always keen observers of the weather. Well, you would be – it’s important when you
Stalactites These amazing rock formations are called stalactites and stalagmites. Stalactites are the ones that dangle down from the ceiling
Make a tornado in a bottle FACT: England holds the world record for the most tornadoes per square kilometre. It’s
New Leaf Publishing Ltd 2025