The Shelves · Mathematics (incl. astronomy)

Elements

Στοιχεῖα

Known · Probablein Alexandria?Conjecturedvery likely classLegend · Told storya told story on its tag

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I · The entry, in his form

In the table of Mathematics (incl. astronomy)

Conjecturedvery likely class

Euclid

fl. c. 300 BCE. Author of the Elements, the most used textbook in history. Proclus places him under Ptolemy I and has him tell the king there is no royal road to geometry, a retort told of others too.

Elements

Στοιχεῖα

Opening words

Σημεῖόν ἐστιν, οὗ μέρος οὐθέν

A point is that which has no part

Length: not counted

Above, his entry form, filled from what we know. Below, ours.

II · Does it survive? Where to read it

Survives whole

Thirteen books (14-15 are later additions). Most manuscripts carry Theon of Alexandria's 4th-century edition.

Was it in Alexandria?

Known · Probable

Written in Alexandria.

In the cupboard: written at Alexandria by a scholar or court writer a source places there.

Read it today

III · In the show

IV · Sources and the living entry

Ancient references (2)
  • Proclus, Commentary on Euclid I 68
  • Pappus, Collection 7.35
Modern scholarship (2)

Entry checked 31 Oct 2026 · no corrections · Suggest a correction ›

ΣΤΟΙΧΕΙΑ

Read what is told

The back of the tag: a story told of this work, in its teller's voice.

Legend: told story

No royal road to geometry

Proclus tells, some seven and a half centuries later, that Ptolemy I asked Euclid for a shorter way into geometry than the Elements, and that Euclid replied there is no royal road to geometry.

Told by Proclus, c. 450 CE, some seven and a half centuries later

What the evidence supports

Proclus places Euclid under Ptolemy I, and the Elements are Euclid's. The reply is an anecdote: Stobaeus tells the same answer of Menaechmus and Alexander.

Sources (2)
  • Proclus, Commentary on Euclid 68 Friedlein
  • Stobaeus 2.31.115
The Hall of Told Stories

Beside it in the cupboard