The Transmission of Mathematics into Greek Education, 1800-1840: From Individual Initiatives to Institutionalization

Abstract

In the early 19th century, a number of Greek communities developed a remarkable education in mathematics. The subject matter for this instruction was drawn mainly from French textbooks, although some teachers displayed a preference for Prussian mathematical sources. These efforts, however, were thwarted by the religious conservatism of the Greek establishment of the time, which did not favor the emergence of a Greek mathematical discourse. As a consequence, the reception of mathematical knowledge was a fragmented, random process lacking cohesion, collectivity and transitivity. The situation radically changed during the second and third decades of the 19th century. The Ionian Academy in Corfu, and the Military School in Nafplio, founded in 1824 and 1828 respectively, created the first institutional frame for a Greek education in which post-revolutionary French mathematics was established as the basis of Greek mathematical discourse. The French background of Greek mathematical education was further reinforced after 1837, subsequent to the institutionalization of secondary education, and to the founding of the University of Athens in 1836-1837. At the same time, along with this French infusion into Greek mathematical discourse, some noteworthy translations of Prussian textbooks were promoted as well. The first half of the 19th century also witnessed the transmission of the respective epistemological trends of that era, i.e. of the analytical model, of the positivism dominating French mathematics, and of the combinatorial “paradigm” of Prussian mathematics, to the historical setting of Greek mathematical education.