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Last updated 12/25/05

See images and analysis of ancient mathematical objects: IMAGE GRID

BAB: publications

BAB=Bulletin de l’Academie de Belgique, Brussels.

[BAB V (1988)]

See article by J. Bingen dealing with Ptolemy I.

“Bulletin bibliographique" is included in each volume, the list in the volume for 1915-1918 comprising chiefly "Publications allemandes relatives à la guerre."

From 1899-1914 the Classe des lettres et des sciences morales et politiques combined with the Classe des beaux-arts in issuing a Bulletin; publication was interrupted 1915-18 by the European war, and was resumed in 1919 with the Bulletins of the two classes in separate series. The first separate issue of the Classe des beaux-arts (published 1919) has title: Annexe aux bulletins de la Classe des beaux-arts; communications présentées à la classe en 1915-1918.

Vols. 54- also called series 5.

BAB=[possibly, more specifically]:

Bulletin de la classe des beaux-arts. academie royale de belgique. koninklijke belgische academie. bruxelles

BABATHA: (Greek) papyri from the time of Bar Kochba

[B_427,rvw,JH] CATNYP# *PEI+ 90-728

“The Documents from the Bar Kochba Period in the Cave of Letters: Greek Papyri / edited by Naphtali Lewis ; Aramaic and Nabatean signatures and subscriptions / edited by Yigael YADIN and Jonas C. Greenfield.”

Jerusalem, IES, 1989.

P. Babatha 5. Deposit: (Greek; 110 AD; from Maoza)

http://perseus.csad.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.05.0066

See QUMRAN; WADI MURABBA’AT.

BABBAGE: (Innovator) and his analytical engine

http://www.cio.com/archive/041500/time_content.html

Charles Babbage and the Difference Engine.

1792-1871

http://home.clara.net/mycetes/babbage/Davy.html

http://home.clara.net/mycetes/babbage/

http://www.fourmilab.ch/babbage/contents.html

BABELFISH: (translation) tool

Douglas Adams’ dreams come true:

http://babelfish.altavista.com/

BABYLONIAN MATHEMATICS: much to see

(as per personal correspondence; LB; 100802)

Roaf, Michael. _Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East._ Facts of File, New York, 1998. pp124-5.

BACCHIAS or BAKCHIAS: (Greek) papyrus

(as per E. G. Turner) See “The Archives of the Temple of Soknobraisis at Bacchias”, in Yale Classical Studies, X, 1947, p. 179-281, by E.H. Gilliam.

P.Bacch.: The Archives of the Temple of Soknobraisis at Bacchias

P.Bacch. 1.: (Greek; 116 AD; from Bacchias)

http://perseus.csad.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.05.0067

See also BAKCHIASTEXTE.

BACCHIAS: (Ptolemaic) village

See also BAKCHIASTEXTE. See SOKNOBRAISIS; [O_022]

Bacchias: a village at the northeastern part of the FAYUM.

BACCHYLIDES: (Greek) papyrus; fragments; poems of

(as per E. G. Turner) See British Museum.

Pronounced As: bakilidz , fl. c.470 B.C., Greek lyric poet, b. Ceos; nephew of Simonides of Ceos. A contemporary of Pindar, he was patronized by Hiero I. His poetry is noted for its narrative powers, clarity, and lucidity. A number of Bacchylides' epinicia and dithyrambs were among the verses recovered from an Egyptian papyrus (text published by F. G. Kenyon, The Poems of Bacchylides, 1897).

http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/gltc/ilja/pubs/bacch.bibl.html

[Y_004, rvw plates] SUMMIT# 884.9 .B11J

"Bacchylides. The Poems and Fragments."

Cambridge, 1905. NO CATNYP!

(as per MSJ; Britannica)

(fl. 5th century BC), Greek lyric poet of the Aegean island of Ceos, nephew of the poet Simonides and a younger contemporary of the Boeotian poet Pindar, whom he rivaled in the composition of epinician poems (odes commissioned by victors at the major athletic festivals). Little was known of Bacchylides' work until the discovery in Egypt of papyrus fragments that reached the British Museum in 1896 and were published in the following year. Of the 21 poems wholly or partially restored, 14 are epinician odes and the remainder are dithyrambs (originally choric songs in honour of Dionysus

that became the subject of a choral competition at the Athenian festival of the Dionysia). Other fragments, supplemented by later papyrus finds, include passages from paeans (hymns in honour of Apollo and other gods) and encomiums (songs in honour of distinguished men, performed as part of an after-dinner entertainment).

A firm date is provided by Ode 5, an epinician ode written to celebrate the victory of Hieron I, ruler of Syracuse, in the horse race at the Olympian games of 476 BC. The poem implies that Bacchylides had already visited Syracuse before this date as a guest of Hieron, whose later victories in the Pythian horse race of 470 and the Olympian chariot race of 468 he celebrated in Odes 4 and 3, respectively. This brought him into direct competition with Pindar, who also celebrated two, if not all three, of these victories in Olympian i and Pythian i and ii. Pindar's uncomplimentary remarks about rival poets have been

taken as referring to Bacchylides and Simonides. Bacchylides' style is simpler, if less sublime, than Pindar's; he excels in narrative and in clarity of expression. Like Simonides, Bacchylides wrote dithyrambs for the Dionysian festival at Athens, notably the unique Ode 18, which is semidramatic, taking the form of a dialogue between Theseus' father, Aegeus, and an answering chorus of followers. Literary historians differ as to how this literary form is related to the development of the Attic drama.

BADEN: (Greek and demotic and Coptic) papyri

(as per ZPE, D. Fowler) Seek P. Baden IV 644.

Greek (math).

http://www.rzuser.uni-heidelberg.de/~gv0/Papyri/P.Heid._Uebersicht.html

http://alf.zfn.uni-bremen.de/~wie/Egerton/BellSkeat.html

(as per E. G. Turner) Seek:

“Veroffentlichungen aus den badischen Papyrus-Sammlungen”

For texts at Heidelberg. See parts 1-5, 1923-1938.

Edited by W. Spiegelberg; F. Bilabel; and G.A. Gerhard.

AKA V.B.P.=VBP

P.Bad. 2.1. Prescript of a document: (Greek; 225 bce)

http://perseus.csad.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.05.0068

BAHISTUN CLIFF: (Old Persian; Old Elamite; Akkadian)

tri-lingual inscriptions on the road to Hamadan

AKA Bahishtun; Basitun; Behistun; Besitun; Bisitun; Bisotun.

See ACHAEMENID; OPPERT; Speigel; PETESE petition; ZOROASTER

(as per my failing memory) Merits further study. Africa. Modern Iran.

Pursue the story of Guamata [the Liar/Impostor].

See these links:

http://www.visopsys.org/andy/essays/darius-Bisitun.html

http://home.wxs.nl/~lende045/Behistun/Behistun.htm

“Zagros Mountains”; Darius [I] 521-485 B.C.;

Inscriptions in: Akkadian [Babylonian Cuneiform],

Elamite, and Old Persian [Cuneiform].

http://www.angelfire.com/nt/theology/Appx02.html

(as per EB)

First reached and translated by Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson,

an officer in the East India Company.

Born April 11, 1810 and died March 5 1895.

Virtually accomplished the translation of the Old Persian Cuneiform.

http://www.avesta.org/op/op.htm#db1

Specific calendrical data; math.

BAKCHIASTEXTE: (Greek) papyrus

(as per E. G. Turner) See also P. Lund. Univ. Bibl. 4.

See BACCHIAS AKA Kom-el-Asl, east of Philadelphia.

BAKI:(AE; NK) Hieratic letter to farmer from Thebes’ Mayor

(As per EEF; J. Carrington)

See:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/human_faces_transcript.shtml#mayor

“The Mayor of Thebes: Sennefer and his lazy tenant New Kingdom (1539-1075 BC):

The mayor of the southern capital Sennefer speaks to the tenant-farmer Baki son of Kyson to the following effect. This letter is brought to you to tell you that I am coming to see you when we moor at Hu in three days' time. Do not let me find fault with you in your duties. Do not fail to have things in perfect order. Also, pick for me many plants, lotuses and flowers, and others worth offering. Further, you are to cut 5000 boards and 200 timbers; then the BOAT that will bring me can carry them, since you have not cut any wood this year - understood? On no account be slack. If you are not able to cut them you should approach Woser, the mayor of Hu. Pay attention: the herdsman of Cusae and the cowherds who are under my authority, fetch them for yourself in order to cut the wood, along with the workmen who are with you. Also, you are to order the herdsmen to prepare milk in new jars in anticipation of my arrival - understood? You are not to slack, because I know that you are a wiwi, and fond of eating in bed.

The precise meaning of the Egyptian word wiwi is unknown, but it is clear that Sennefer thinks that his tenant is ineffectual in some way. Cusae and Hu were towns on the river to the north of Thebes. The letter was intended to dismay poor Baki, but he never read it. The letter was found still rolled up and sealed, as it was when it was sent more than thirty centuries ago.”

[My thoughts; this harsh tone is very similar to that found in the HEKANAKHTE letters]

<snip> Faulkner's dictionary anything relating to 'wiwi'.

<snip> there is only 'wi'[=]'mummy-case'. Could a pun be intended? <snip>

<snip> the original hieratic. (Papyrus Berlin 10463). There is a photo <snip>

http://home.pages.at/sen-nefer/sennefer/Person.htm

>

(as per EEF; moderator)

See Hannig: [B_568] has a word _wiAwiA_ "helpless, weak, slow, passive, incapable"

<snip> [See] Dr. Meeks': "L'Année Lexicographique, Égypte ancienne" [NO CATNYP]

My notes on Hannig query:

Hannig's Woerterbuch

Hannig, R. _Grosses Handwoertebruch Aegyptisch-Deutsch_. 1995, 2000. (Mainz:van Zabern)

[B_568,rvw] CATNYP# *O-*OBOG 99-7510

“Grosses Handwörterbuch Deutsch-Ägyptisch : (2800-950 v. Chr.) : die Sprache der Pharaonen / von Rainer Hannig.” Mainz : P. von Zabern, c2000.

See also Hannig's "Kulturhandbuch Aegyptens"

(as per M. Tilgner; EEF; 121402)

Re: letter from Sennefer, the Mayor of Thebes, to the tenant-farmer Baki.

Original hieratic known as: (Papyrus Berlin 10463).

Bought by Prof. Carl Schmidt in Egypt in 1935.

Now at: the Egyptian Museum in Berlin.

References:

AEB 63.0086

CAMINOS, Ricardo A., Papyrus Berlin 10463, JEA 49 (1963), 29-37, 1 fig., 2 plates.

Editio princeps of a Berlin XVIIIth Dynasty letter (seal impression points to Amenophis II), sent by the mayor of Thebes, Sennefer (Theban Tomb No. 96) to the tenant-farmer Baki, son of Kysen. The sender informs the adressee that he will arrive in three days time at Hw.t-sxm and expects that certain preparations will be duly carried out at the moment of his coming.

<snip>

see also AEB 63.0289 and K. Baer, JEA 51 (1965), 137. J.F.B.

AEB 80.0196

GÖRG, M., Lexikalisches zum Papyrus Berlin 10463, JEA 66 (1980),

160-161.

Discusses the word mrHnn citing possible links with new Babylonian marhanu 'a wood'. Also sbw rendered by Caminos as 'boards' and sabbu 'a tree' in AEB 63.0086. E.P.U.

Color photographs of the Hieratic original is in:

Ägyptens Aufstieg zur Weltmacht, Verlag Philipp von Zabern, 1987

catalog of an exhibition in the Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum, Hildesheim, 1987), p. 129

<snip>

"I know that you are lethargic and enjoy eating while lying down." (Edward Wente, Letters from Ancient Egypt, Scholars Press, 1990, pp. 92-93)

"... ich weiß, daß du faul und gefräßig bist." [I know that you are lazy and greedy.] (Leben im ägyptischen Altertum. Literatur, Urkunden, Briefe aus vier Jahrtausenden, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 1986, pp. 26-27) -

Other German translations also have "lazy".

BALDUINI: (English) codex; Henry VII

http://www.friends-partners.org/partners/beyond-the-pale/eng_captions/12-5.html

Jews need permits to live and work in a town - a “privilege” for which they have to pay the prince, bishop or town magistrate. Here, the “privilege” of the Jews of Rome is reaffirmed by Emperor Henry VII.

Miniature in the Codex Balduini, early 14th century.

BANAKI: (Greek) collections at museum of

[O_065,rvw] NO CATNYP

BOBST# PA3312 .G74 2000

“Greek papyri in the Banaki Museum [Mouseion Benake] from the collections of the historical archives / edited by Eustathios Papolychroniou.”

Athens, 2000.

BARCELONA: (Greek) papyri

See PHILO.

BARCINONENSIS: (Latin) tragedy

[Y_005,rvw text and commentary] SUMMIT# PA 6140 .A52 1988

“Alcestis Barcinonensis : text and commentary.”

Leiden, 1988.

NO CATNYP!

Liberman, Gauthier "L'Alceste de Barcelone (Alcestis Barcinonensis)" RPh 72.2 (1998) 219-232 -+-

See BARCELONA.

“The tragedy "Alcestis Barcinonensis", which was recently (c. 1982) found”

http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/1997/97.03.15.html

Title: Alcestis Barcinonensis: Text and Commentary (Mnemosyne Supplement 103) by Miroslav Marcovich ISBN: 9004086005 Publisher: Brill Academic Publishers Pub. Date: November, 1988 Format: Paperback List Price(USD): $31.50

http://www.anybook4less.com/detail/9004086005.html

BASEL: (Greek and Coptic) papyri

(as per E. G. Turner) See “Papyruskunden der Offentlichen Bibliothek der Universitat zu Basel” by E. Rabel and W. Spiegelberg, Berlin, 1917.

P.Bas. 2. Transport of requisitioned (?) camels:

(Greek; AD 190; from Soknopaiou Nesos)

http://perseus.csad.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.05.0070

BASP: publication

[B_492,rvw]

CATNYP# L-11 2547

“The Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists [ASP].”

Urbana, Illinois, 1963-?

NYPL has holdings in room 108.

BATAV.: (Greek and Demotic) papyri

P.Batav. 3. Bail à ferme de la terre "La Pointe":

(Greek and Demotic; 109 bce; from Memnoneia)

http://perseus.csad.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.05.0071

BATTERY: (Arab and Roman?) ancient

But Konig's electric battery did not go away. In fact a lot more of them were found in Parthian settlements near Baghdad.

The battery Konig discovered consisted of a pottery jar 14 centimetres (5 1/2 inches) high and 8 centimetres (3 inches) in diameter with a 3.3 centimetre (1 1/2 inches) opening at the top. Inside this opening, and held in place with asphalt, was a tube made of a copper sheet. The tube was sealed at the bottom with a copper disc held in place with more asphalt. Suspended from the asphalt lid was an iron rod which hung down inside the centre of the copper roll.

http://www.nelsonbay.com/~orlomo/mystery/ancient/battery.html

BEATTY PANOPOLIS: (Greek) papyrus

(as per E. G. Turner) (Greek) P. Beatty Panop. ~350 CE.

“Papyri from Panopolis in the Chester Beatty Library”

Published by T.C. Skeat, Dublin, 1964.

See CHESTER BEATTY; PANOPOLIS.

Urkunden aus Panopolis:

P.Panop. 1. Lease of land: (Greek; 298 AD; Panopolis)

http://perseus.csad.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.05.0183

P.Panop.Beatty: Papyri from Panopolis in the Chester Beatty Library Dublin.

http://perseus.csad.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.05.0182

Bad link?

BEDE: the Venerable

See UHN: p. 200 re VENERABLE BEDE ~1200 CE see MS Alcobaca 394 (426), FOLIO 252.

BEEF JERKY: yummy

http://www.herkyjerky.com/cgi-bin/quikstore.cgi?category=PRODUCTS

BEHEIRA: (OK; AE) temple unearthed at Kom Al Hesn

http://www.uk.sis.gov.eg/online/html4/o200921n.htm

BEINEKE: Library at Yale

See YALE

BELL AND HOWELL: umi

http://www.umi.com/

BELLOWS: a tool full of hot air

(as per S. Whittet) Was introduced to AE ~1700 BCE by the HYKSOS.

See METAL

(as per S. Whittet; EEF; 071102)

Re: the difference between sufficient temperatures in the making of faience and a blast furnace for iron. It

is more than just temperature.

Particularly in regards to wootz it can be a combination of temperature

and the addition of impurities such as nitrogen or zinc.

http://www.techfak.uni-kiel.de/matwis/amat/def_en/articles/wootz_advanced_material/wootz_steel_an_advanced_material_of_the_ancient_world.html

Temperature fluctuation is worth some consideration.

A fortuitous property of accidently heating and cooling iron

appears to be the formation of fullerenes [tempered steel]

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Ithaca/7063/article/nsapr99.html

(as per EEF; S. Whittet)

Re: nitriding.

This can be done quite accidently at low temperatures (bread oven)

by the addition of legumes and other organics that concentrate nitrates.

The result is a hard non brittle edge

While the above article mention temperatures that are higher

than might be expected from a bread oven operating without a bellows

(1000 10000[?] C in a sealed crucible) in making Damascus steel it was

common to use lower temperatures over a longer time with carbon

being added by the addition of organics that in some cases contained

traces of nitrates.

In a desert country its perfectly reasonable to expect that ovens would

be fueled by straw and beanstalks rather than chopped up trees.

Legumes fix nitrogen in nodules attached to their roots.

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Ithaca/7063/article/nsapr99.html

Re: 4th dynasty had only copper, since that was the only material of that period found in tools.

<snip>sophisticated tooling and tool bits sufficiently hard to core granite. The answer for that was

diamond-tipped saws and drills.

Not to digress but abrasives need not be diamond tipped. Simply running

a bitumen covered rope through sand produces a wire saw that will cut

all but the hardest stones.

The same thing applies to drill bits. Some cores do show a hard point

was used but allowing jeweled points represent a technology that

comes at a later date; some metal working technologies that developed

quite early such as the ability to make wootz, nitriding, and the addition

of zinc and or antimony to copper would have allowed for very hard

edges...

Re: use of that wood/charcoal in kilns to make fayence or iron.

In making charcoal if a nitrogen rich organic material was used

such as bean stalks or vines the result would be a hard edge

there is also the possibility that the ancient Egyptians copper

contained enough zinc to harden the edges of their tools

the accidental creation of fullerenes in an edge by temperature

variations that allowed a bloom to repeatedly melt and cool

would also have been possible.

(as per EEF; 041904) see two furnaces discovered.
http://home.t-online.de/home/groenwald3/oefen.htm

BEN SUEF: (AE; OK) Pharaonic period Tombs

http://www.sundayherald.com/30260

122802_Find more details from Spanish Team at Ahanassya district of Beni Suef province, 60 miles south of Cairo. See SCA report [when published].

the official Egyptian State Information Service (SIS) announcement on their website:

http://www.uk.sis.gov.eg/online/html8/o291222g.htm

“The Egyptian-Spanish mission unearthed an important Cemetery that dates back to an ancient era (2260-2050BC) at Ihanasia al in the southern Egyptian governorate of Beni Suef, (known as) Heraclupolis magna during the Greek era.”

the work is being carried out on behalf

of the Museo Arqueológico Nacional of Madrid

http://www.arrakis.es/~aedeweb/yacimientos.htm

BENNU: (AE) mythological bird; symbol of Osiris

(as per E.A. Budge) See also PHOENIX (Greek)

BERKELEY: college

Many useful links provided by the following link.

http://ishi.lib.berkeley.edu/~hsp/JAGNES/

BERICHTE ZUR WISSENSCHAFTSGESCHICHTE: publication

See RO, ACHMIM
BZW=BERICHTE ZUR WISSENSCHAFTSGESCHICHTE
=[Reports of the Society for Science History]

[B_603,012205,8.5 via Milo Gardner, PDF]
Berichte Zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte #26, (2003) pp.1-16:
Article [in German] by Tanja Pommerening

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.wiley-vch.de/publish/en/journals/alphabeticIndex/2031&prev=/search%3Fq%3DBERICHTE%2BZUR%2BWISSENSCHAFTSGESCHICHTE%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official_s%26sa%3DG

http://216.239.37.104/translate_c?hl=en&u=http://staff-www.uni-marburg.de/~krafft/inhalt99.htm&prev=/search%3Fq%3DBERICHTE%2BZUR%2BWISSENSCHAFTSGESCHICHTE%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official_s%26sa%3DG

BERLIN: (hieratic; MK; and Greek; demotic) papyri and ostraca

(as per S. Lorber) Berlin: two [math] sources:

First is Berlin P. 10500 (sixth dynasty).

Second is Berlin P 6619 (square roots!; math) from 1850 BCE, AKA THEBES Papyrus.

See Berlin P 6619 in ZAS 38 and ZAS 40.

(as per Gillings; Peet [B_226a]) Dynasty XIX.

NO CATNYP

"Ein Mathematisches Handbuch der Alten Agypter", by Eisenlohr, Liepzig 1877. Containing the first [illegal] publishing of RMP plates. See RHIND.

(as per 2terres) NO CATNYP Pap. dem. Berlin 13603; Mainz and Papyrus of Hapi-Ankh.

(as per D. Meeks) seek demotic P. Berlin 3113

[B_008,MISC, ZAS], (as per T.E. Peet) "Zeitschrift fur agyptische Sprache"

CATNYP# *OBH+Zeitschrift, published by Schack-Schackenburg with a reference to Borchardt. 1863.

I visited this book but it was crumbling.

No images! I believe it is also preserved on Microfiche.

(Origin=Theban?) See "Story of Herdsman", Dynasty XII?

See this link to Berlin P. #3024. (At Staatliche Museum, Berlin)

http://res3.geocities.com/~amenhotep/language/glyph/main.html#Hieratic

[B_038,IMG,HOUSE] CATNYP# *OBKQ 75-2082

"The report about the dispute of a man with his ba : Papyrus Berlin 3024.”

Baltimore, Johns Hopkins Press, 1970, by Hans Goedicke.

With excellent images and translation.

H. Goedicke makes reference to the story of Sinuhe,

a description of a confrontation with a Beduin Sheikh.

He also refers to a Victory Song inscribed in the Sixth Dynasty tomb of Weni and The

Instruction of King Merikare.

H. Goedicke's translations include the Man’s Ba telling him:

1. "Death is the end of senseless motion"

2. "Ultimate salvation is an outflow of Divine mercy"

3. "I shall alight after you weary"

(as per EEF; G. Gibson; 112703)
There is a very clear and interesting discussion of the ka, the ba,
and other aspects of humanity in James P. Allen's grammar:
Middle Egyptian:An Introduction to the language and culture
of hieroglyphs. (Cambridge, 1999).
Chapter 7: Essay 7, "Human Nature."

(as per LEX)