MYSTERIES OF THE EQUILATERAL TRIANGLE - HIKARI Ltd

4 History
counter the sister-states of Babylonia and Assyria who competed for dominance
over what is now Iraq. Babylonia was a land of merchants and agriculturists
presided over by a priesthood. Assyria was an organized military power ruled
by an autocratic king.
Old Babylonian clay tablet BM 15285 is a mathematical “textbook” from
southern Mesopotamia dating back to the early second-millenium B.C. The
portion shown in Figure 1.5 contains a problem which is believed to have
involved an approximate construction of the equilateral triangle [259, pp. 198-
199]. The iron haematite Babylonian cylinder of Figure 1.6 prominently displays
an equilateral triangle as what is believed to be a symbol of a sacred
Trinity [206, p. 605]. Such cylinders were usually engraved with sacred figures,
accompanied by a short inscription in Babylonian cuneiform characters,
containing the names of the owner of the seal and of the divinity under whose
protection he had placed himself.
Figure 1.7: Asshur-izir-pal [250] Figure 1.8: Triangular Altar [250]
Figure 1.7 shows a stele of the Assyrian King Asshur-izir-pal excavated at
Nimrud [250, p. 97]. In front of this figure, marking the object of its erection, is
an equilateral triangular altar with a circular top. Here were laid the offerings
to the divine monarch by his subjects upon visiting his temple. Figure 1.8
shows another triangular Assyrian altar excavated at Khorsabad [250, p. 273].
Moving further East, we encounter Hinduism which is the largest and indigenous
religious tradition of India [157]. The name India itself is derived
from the Greek Indus which is further derived from the Old Persian Hindu.