{"id":189,"date":"2020-03-18T14:17:08","date_gmt":"2020-03-18T08:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ckraju.net\/blog\/?p=189"},"modified":"2020-03-18T14:17:08","modified_gmt":"2020-03-18T08:47:08","slug":"greediots-and-pythagoras-3-was-euclid-a-black-woman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckraju.net\/wordpress_F\/?p=189","title":{"rendered":"Greediots and Pythagoras. 3: Was Euclid a black woman?"},"content":{"rendered":"

My <\/span>point <\/span>in part 1<\/a> <\/span>and part 2<\/a><\/span> of this post <\/span>was<\/span> that there were no <\/span>axiomatic proofs among Greeks, <\/span>and that <\/span>the cult of <\/span>Pythagoreans a<\/span>s also<\/span> the <\/span>book <\/span>Elements<\/em> were both concerned with <\/span>religious<\/em> beliefs <\/span>about the soul <\/span>linked to<\/span> geometry. <\/span>The church reinterpreted the book <\/span>Elements<\/em>, to suit its politics. Church education then spread the ridiculous false belief that <\/span> <\/span> \u201c<\/span>Euclid\u2019s\u201d <\/span>book<\/span> w<\/span>as somehow<\/span> allied to its theology <\/span>of reason, which used<\/span> faith-based reasoning.<\/span> Colonial education spread these beliefs <\/span>far and wide.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the church was hardly the only culprit. <\/span>Following in the footsteps of the church, t<\/span>his technique <\/span>of <\/span>using <\/span>false <\/span>history <\/span>for self-glorification <\/span>and denigrating the other <\/span> <\/span>was later picked up by racist historians. <\/span><\/p>\n

As a result, our current class <\/span>I<\/span>X school text <\/span>poisons the minds of young children<\/span> <\/span>by showing them <\/span>a racist image of a white-skinned Euclid as does Wikipedia <\/span>a partner in <\/span>the crime of <\/span>racist propaganda.<\/span>. There is no evidence for <\/span>even the existence of <\/span>Euclid (my prize of Rs 2 lakhs <\/span>for serious evidence about Euclid <\/span>is still open after a decade<\/span>) so how did these Greediots know the color of Euclid\u2019s skin? <\/span>But Greediots will be Greediots!<\/span><\/p>\n

I <\/span>shook this equilibrium by <\/span>argu<\/span>ing<\/span> to the contrary that the author of the Elements<\/em> was a black woman as depicted on the cover of my book <\/span>Euclid and Jesus<\/em>. <\/span>Curiously<\/span>, b<\/span>ecause of childhood indoctrination,<\/span> people ask for \u201cevidence\u201d only when one speaks of black skin; <\/span>these are<\/span> <\/span>the very same people who, <\/span>as children,<\/span> never asked for evidence <\/span>and never<\/span> objected to the depiction of Euclid as white-skinned <\/span>without the slightest evidence.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

Anyway,<\/span> what is <\/span>my<\/em> evidence? <\/span>H<\/span>ow <\/span>exactly <\/span>do I know the gender <\/span>or skin color <\/span>of the author? Well, all Greek <\/span>manuscripts of <\/span>the <\/span>Elements<\/em> describe the book <\/span>Elements<\/em> as authored by Theon or based on his <\/span>lectures.<\/span> (Euclid is never mentioned <\/span>as the author <\/span>in any <\/span>Greek <\/span>manuscript or <\/span>c<\/span>ommentary, <\/span>one more nail in the coffin of <\/span>utterly <\/span>Greediotic<\/span> history.<\/span>) Theon was the last librarian of the Library of Alexandria before it was burnt down by rampaging Christian mobs. Proclus a short while later writes a commentary on the <\/span>Elements<\/em>. <\/span>So, the <\/span>real <\/span>author <\/span>of the Elements<\/span> must be between Theon and Proclus. <\/span>(The <\/span>subject<\/em> of Egyptian mystery geometry, of course, existed from long before, we are speaking of the author of a particular <\/span>book<\/em> on the subject, the Elements<\/em>.) <\/span>That leaves Theon\u2019s daughter as the <\/span>most <\/span>likely author of the <\/span>Elements<\/em>. <\/span>This is, of course, some 800 years after the purported date of Euclid, <\/span>and in vastly different social circumstances.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

This <\/span>belief in the gender of the author <\/span>is <\/span>further <\/span>corroborated by the fact that Greek commentaries speak <\/span>anonymously<\/em> of \u201cthe author of the Elements\u201d, though they mention all others from Aristophanes to Zeno by name. Why <\/span>the anonymity<\/span>? <\/span>Obvious: n<\/span>one else is a woman, and we know that Christians regard women as inferior, and never accepted a woman as a pope. <\/span>This <\/span>anonymity further <\/span>suggests that something terrible happened to the author. <\/span>Indeed,<\/span> as is well known Hypatia was raped and brutally killed on the altar of a church. <\/span><\/p>\n

As the last event demonstrates, changing the author <\/span>(hence the date) changes the social circumstances. That naturally <\/span>does change our understanding of the book: a book written in another time and another place would have different motivations. <\/span><\/p>\n

In accord with Proclus\u2019 stated understanding of the Elements<\/em> as a religious text intended to arouse the soul, <\/span>Hypatia was trying to defend her pagan beliefs about the soul through geometry. <\/span>But this was at a time when those pagan beliefs about the soul were under vicious attack by the church which had demolished every last pagan temple in the Roman empire. Hypatia <\/span>henc<\/em>e aroused the ire of the church. <\/span>This atrocious hate crime by a Christian mob <\/span>led by a hate-mongering bishop<\/span> was no local rivalry as church apologists maintain: <\/span>it was part of a dirty religious war <\/span>waged by Christians <\/span>against pagans, the first religious war known to mankind.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

And how do I know the color of her skin? <\/span>Well, I go by the standard of \u201cbalance of probabilities\u201d for history. The author of the <\/span>Elements <\/em>(i.e., Theon\u2019s daughter <\/span>the 5<\/span>th<\/span><\/sup> c. <\/span>Hypatia) was from Alexandria in Egypt which is part of the African continent. So, black is the default skin color until proved otherwise. <\/span>Go ahead, produce contrary evidence for the skin color of the author <\/span>from the text<\/span> and I will change my views, <\/span>provided the remark is not an obviously forged one.<\/span> And if you can\u2019t <\/span>produce the evidence<\/span> <\/span>for the skin color of the author (and no one has for so many centuries) <\/span>then accept that I am right. <\/span>Accept that the depiction of Euclid as a white man is false racist propaganda carried on for centuries. <\/span><\/p>\n

My reasoning <\/span>about the author as a black woman writing to defend her religious beliefs <\/span> is certainly far better than <\/span>the <\/span>mere myth <\/span>that the author was a white male, <\/span>or the <\/span>contra<\/em>-factual claim that the book is about axiomatic proofs, <\/span>a belief<\/span> <\/span>so <\/span>politically <\/span>convenient to the Crusading church <\/span>that it adopted the <\/span>Elements<\/em> as a text book to teach faith-based (axiomatic) reasoning to its priests. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

At this stage <\/span>t<\/span>here are those who will <\/span>jump up to <\/span>say, <\/span>as a person did after my talk,<\/span> that skin color <\/span>(or gender) <\/span>of the author <\/span>does not matter. <\/span>First the <\/span>real <\/span>author does matter, because changing the author changes our understanding of the book from a book about axiomatic proofs to a semi-religious text of little practical importance. But the skin color <\/span>of the author <\/span>also matter<\/span>s<\/span>: else<\/span> why did my article on \u201cWas Euclid a black woman?\u201d<\/a> create such a storm in South Africa? <\/span>Tens of thousands <\/span>of people found it interesting, therefore it was reproduced worldwide. But then the South Africa editor of the <\/span>Conversation <\/em>censored it: <\/span>she wanted to preserve the false myths of white achievements in math.<\/span> <\/span>She exercised her editorial authority to censor it. On the system of blind faith in editorial wisdom, the article <\/span>was <\/span>censored worldwide <\/span>(e.g. by Scroll in India). <\/span>Why <\/span>censor it<\/span> if the skin color really does not matter<\/span>? <\/span>(See, Mathematics and censorship<\/a>.<\/span>)<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

A<\/span>t this stage, when racists ;have no arguments to offer, they resort to the church technique of vilification: this requires no academic skill, any dog can bark. The racist press in South Africa and the related church reports in US called me a \u201cconspiracy theorist\u201d. Obviously, their greatest and best formal mathematicians can think of nothing better to do than to serially plagiarise my work. <\/span>(See this blog on Plagiarism by the President of the Royal Society<\/a>.) <\/span> This racist slur of “conspiracy theory” was repeatedly used by another participant in the Shimla round table, <\/span>as an acknowledgment of his lack of academic skills <\/span> All the above arguments are a conspiracy theory aren\u2019t they?<\/span><\/p>\n

And <\/span>(if <\/span>skin color<\/span> really does not matter)<\/span> a<\/span>re Greediots willing to change the image <\/span>of \u201cEuclid\u201d <\/span>children see <\/span>in our school texts <\/span>from a white man to a black woman<\/span>? Will they <\/span>even <\/span>try changing it in Wikipedia <\/span>which is supposedly open to change<\/span>? <\/span>Will they openly admit there is no evidence for the white skin of the author <\/span>of the Elements<\/span> as they have been falsely peddling for centuries? <\/span>Like the worm turning, c<\/span>ould they <\/span>even add a comment <\/span>in Wikipedia <\/span>about <\/span>the existence of <\/span>different opinions? No way! <\/span>Actions speak louder than words. <\/span>If <\/span>skin color<\/span> really does not matter, don\u2019t just say it, show it with your actions! <\/span>And if you don\u2019t we know what your true beliefs are <\/span>for we judge by actions<\/span>!<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

The trick to spread these <\/span>Greediotic and racist <\/span>lies is to use <\/span>childhood indoctrination, <\/span>through education,<\/span> <\/span>and<\/span> reinforce <\/span>it<\/span> by propagandist <\/span>and racist <\/span>instruments<\/span> like Wikipedia. <\/span>Greediots everywhere, evidence nowhere. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My point in part 1 and part 2 of this post was that there were no axiomatic proofs among Greeks, and that the cult of Pythagoreans as also the book Elements were both concerned with religious beliefs about the soul linked to geometry. The church reinterpreted the book Elements, to suit its politics. Church education then spread the ridiculous false belief that \u201cEuclid\u2019s\u201d book was somehow allied to its theology of reason, which used faith-based reasoning. Colonial education spread these beliefs far and wide. But the church was hardly the only culprit. Following in the footsteps of the church, this technique of using false history for self-glorification and denigrating the other was later picked up by racist historians. As a result, our current class IX school text poisons the minds of young children by showing them a racist image of a white-skinned Euclid as does Wikipedia a partner in the crime of racist propaganda.. There is no evidence for even the existence of Euclid (my prize of Rs 2 lakhs for serious evidence about Euclid is still open after a decade) so how did these Greediots know the color of Euclid\u2019s skin? But Greediots will be Greediots! I shook this equilibrium by arguing to the contrary that the author of the Elements was a black woman as depicted on the cover of my book Euclid and Jesus. Curiously, because of childhood indoctrination, people ask for \u201cevidence\u201d only when one speaks of black skin; these are the very same people who, as children, never asked for evidence and never objected to the depiction of Euclid as white-skinned without the slightest evidence. Anyway, what is my evidence? How exactly do I know the gender or skin color of the author? Well, all Greek manuscripts of the Elements describe the book Elements as authored by Theon or based on his lectures. (Euclid is never mentioned as the author in any Greek manuscript or commentary, one more nail in the coffin of utterly Greediotic history.) Theon was the last librarian of the Library of Alexandria before it was burnt down by rampaging Christian mobs. Proclus a short while later writes a commentary on the Elements. So, the real author of the Elements must be between Theon and Proclus. (The subject of Egyptian mystery geometry, of course, existed from long before, we are speaking of the author of a particular book on the subject, the Elements.) That leaves Theon\u2019s daughter as the most likely author of the Elements. This is, of course, some 800 years after the purported date of Euclid, and in vastly different social circumstances. This belief in the gender of the author is further corroborated by the fact that Greek commentaries speak anonymously of \u201cthe author of the Elements\u201d, though they mention all others from Aristophanes to Zeno by name. Why the anonymity? Obvious: none else is a woman, and we know that Christians regard women as inferior, and never accepted a woman as a pope. This anonymity further suggests that something terrible happened to the author. Indeed, as is well known Hypatia was raped and brutally killed on the altar of a church. As the last event demonstrates, changing the author (hence the date) changes the social circumstances. That naturally does change our understanding of the book: a book written in another time and another place would have different motivations. In accord with Proclus\u2019 stated understanding of the Elements as a religious text intended to arouse the soul, Hypatia was trying to defend her pagan beliefs about the soul through geometry. But this was at a time when those pagan beliefs about the soul were under vicious attack by the church which had demolished every last pagan temple in the Roman empire. Hypatia hence aroused the ire of the church. This atrocious hate crime by a Christian mob led by a hate-mongering bishop was no local rivalry as church apologists maintain: it was part of a dirty religious war waged by Christians against pagans, the first religious war known to mankind. And how do I know the color of her skin? Well, I go by the standard of \u201cbalance of probabilities\u201d for history. The author of the Elements (i.e., Theon\u2019s daughter the 5th c. Hypatia) was from Alexandria in Egypt which is part of the African continent. So, black is the default skin color until proved otherwise. Go ahead, produce contrary evidence for the skin color of the author from the text and I will change my views, provided the remark is not an obviously forged one. And if you can\u2019t produce the evidence for the skin color of the author (and no one has for so many centuries) then accept that I am right. Accept that the depiction of Euclid as a white man is false racist propaganda carried on for centuries. My reasoning about the author as a black woman writing to defend her religious beliefs is certainly far better than the mere myth that the author was a white male, or the contra-factual claim that the book is about axiomatic proofs, a belief so politically convenient to the Crusading church that it adopted the Elements as a text book to teach faith-based (axiomatic) reasoning to its priests. At this stage there are those who will jump up to say, as a person did after my talk, that skin color (or gender) of the author does not matter. First the real author does matter, because changing the author changes our understanding of the book from a book about axiomatic proofs to a semi-religious text of little practical importance. But the skin color of the author also matters: else why did my article on \u201cWas Euclid a black woman?\u201d create such a storm in South Africa? Tens of thousands of people found it interesting, therefore it was reproduced worldwide. But then the South Africa editor of the Conversation censored it: she wanted to preserve the false myths of white achievements in math. She exercised her editorial authority to censor it. On the system of blind faith in editorial wisdom, the article was censored worldwide (e.g. by Scroll in India). Why censor it if the skin color really does not matter? (See, Mathematics and censorship.) At this stage, when racists ;have no arguments to offer, they resort to the church technique of vilification: this requires no academic skill, any dog can bark. The racist press in South Africa and the related church reports in US called me a \u201cconspiracy theorist\u201d. Obviously, their greatest and best formal mathematicians can think of nothing better to do than to serially plagiarise my work. (See this blog on Plagiarism by the President of the Royal Society.) This racist slur of “conspiracy theory” was repeatedly used by another participant in the Shimla round table, as an acknowledgment of his lack of academic skills All the above arguments are a conspiracy theory aren\u2019t they? And (if skin color really does not matter) are Greediots willing to change the image of \u201cEuclid\u201d children see in our school texts from a white man to a black woman? Will they even try changing it in Wikipedia which is supposedly open to change? Will they openly admit there is no evidence for the white skin of the author of the Elements as they have been falsely peddling for centuries? Like the worm turning, could they even add a comment in Wikipedia about the existence of different opinions? No way! Actions speak louder than words. If skin color really does not matter, don\u2019t just say it, show it with your actions! And if you don\u2019t we know what your true beliefs are for we judge by actions! The trick to spread these Greediotic and racist lies is to use childhood indoctrination, through education, and reinforce it by propagandist and racist instruments like Wikipedia. Greediots everywhere, evidence nowhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-history-and-philosophy-of-mathematics","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckraju.net\/wordpress_F\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckraju.net\/wordpress_F\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckraju.net\/wordpress_F\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckraju.net\/wordpress_F\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckraju.net\/wordpress_F\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ckraju.net\/wordpress_F\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckraju.net\/wordpress_F\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckraju.net\/wordpress_F\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckraju.net\/wordpress_F\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}