Workshop – History of Surveying and Measurement WSHS2 – History of Surveying and Measurement

There is no doubt that the first renowned Grecian mathematicians, Thales and Pythagoras, went to Egypt as well as Babylon in a quest to learn from the reputed practical exponents of mathematical applications through which these long established ancient civilizations had founded their calculating prowess. However, it was also recorded by the first historians, Herodotus (c. 450 B.C.) and Strabo (c. 24 B.C.) that the Greeks adapted many of the Egyptian calculation and surveying techniques, modifying and developing them with their own sophisticated advancements into a very refined system, The Greek surveying was in turn inherited and further progressed to an even greater level of accomplishment by the Romans, whose procedures were well recorded in such publications as the Corpus Agrimensorum, and whose equipment and individuals were well recovered from the legendary site of Pompeii frozen in time in the year 79 A.D. on the 27th August. Not much is known of the Greek surveyors but in the following paper you will be taken on a mystical journey of discovery through ancient Egypt and Greece to marvel at the superb levels of surveying computation and field skill present. You will also witness the high ethica