CLASSICS STRIKES BACK: THOMAS EVANS AND HISMATHEMATOGONIA

Abstract

Thomas Saunders Evans’ Greek poemMathematogonia. The mythological birth of the nymph Mathesis(1839) is one of the outstanding products of the British compositional tradition. The article begins with a brief account of Evans and of the historical context of the poem, which also belongs to the history of mathematics in Britain, and in particular, its teaching in nineteenth-century Cambridge. This is followed by a preliminary note onMathematogonia; a reproduction of the text of the poem, with Evans’ original preface and notes; an English translation; notes detailing Evans’ sources and borrowings from Tragic texts; and an appendix listing the changes he made after its first publication. The aim is to show what Evans wrote, and to explain what prompted him to do so.