Mythic Origins of Ancient Egyptian Mathematics
By Daniel Leyva

In ancient Egyptian culture mathematics was a large part of everyday life, just as in our own culture. Math was used for things such as counting, commerce, architecture, astronomy, calendars and other practical purposes you can likely imagine. There was, however, something a little bit different about the mathematics used in ancient Egypt as opposed to the mathematics we use today: Their origin is just as important as their function.

While the origin of our modern mathematics is often celebrated, its origin is traced back to mere men and so are celebrated for their function not their creator. In ancient Egypt mathematics were celebrated because of their creator. In Egypt certain aspects of their mathematics were considered to be gifts from the gods as their origin could be traced back through Egyptian cosmology.

One of the more notable mathematic accomplishments of the Egyptians was the creation of one of the first 365-day calendars. While modern man may attribute this feat to simple astronomical observation and mathematics, the Egyptians attributed this to myth. According to myth there were originally 360 days in the year, split into 12 30-day months. In the story the sky goddess Nut, who was cursed by the sun god Ra to be barren during every month of the year. She turned to the god Thoth for help, and so Thoth beat the moon at dice and made her give him 1/72 of her light. He used that light to create the five feast days that came at the end of the year. During these five days existing outside the normal calendar Nut was able to conceive. Thus you have a mythological, rather than mathematical origin of the 365-day calendar.

Another important mathematical contribution of the gods is proportion. According to the Egyptians, the God Seth first used proportion in his first attempt to murder the sun god Osiris. The first part of his plan was to build a beautiful box that was built exactly to Osiris’ measurements. To accomplish this he would have to secretly measure Osiris so as not to make him suspicious. So, rather than measure Osiris directly, he measured his shadow, cast behind his back. Thus Seth used the laws of proportion to take Osiris’ measurements from the size of the shadow he cast.

The rest of this story leads to the creation of fractions. Once Seth had this box built he threw a banquet, where he presented his box and said he would give it to whomever could fit inside of it. As it was made to fit Osiris, he was the only one who fit. As soon as he was in, Seth nailed the box shut and dropped him in the Nile. Osiris’ wife and sister Isis found the body, brought it back to Egypt and hid. Seth found the body, broke it into fourteen pieces, and scattered the pieces.

Isis eventually found the pieces, restored the body, and buried it as a mummy to give it immortality. According to Eberhart this “act of forming fractions as a breakup of a whole into sundered fragments” remained apart of Egyptian math in the form of fractions.

As this story continues, so does the development of Egyptian mathematics. Isis conceived a son with the now immortal body of Osiris. This son, Horus, was determined to exact revenge upon Seth for the murder of his father Osiris. When Horus was strong enough he challenged Seth. In the ensuing violence Seth gouged out the eye of Horus and tore it into six pieces. Eventually the other gods stopped the violence and ordered Seth to restore the eye, and so through sorcery he made the eye healthy again.

Eventually the eye of Horus became a religious symbol of great power, bringing knowledge, health, and fertility. This connection led to the use of the Eye of Horus as the symbol for the hekat, the standard unit of measure for agricultural products. The symbol for the hekat was an eye that could be broken down into six different parts, each representing a specific fraction of a hekat.

According to Ifrah there is an old story of a scribe who noticed that you don’t get one if you add up all of the fractions contained within the Eye of Horus. When he commented upon this to his master, the master told him that the god Thoth would always provide the missing 1/64 to whomever placed himself under his protection.

Now that we have had a brief look at the mythological origins of Ancient Egyptian mathematics, one may wonder if there is perhaps some hidden meaning behind our own mathematics, some meaning beyond just their function. Unfortunately you will find that our math was created by mere men. The real magic of math, however. seems to lie within the possibilities opened up by their function rather than the divinity the mathematicians.

Bibliography

1) Ifrah, Georges. From one to Zero. Viking Penguin, New York. 1985
2) Eberhart, Stephen. Mathematics Through the Liberal Arts: A Human Approach.
California State University Northridge, Northridge. 1991