• 4) Which of the sentences may be included into this text?

a) Counting by fingers, that is, counting by fives and tens, came at a certain stage of social development.

b) Neolithic man also developed a keen feeling for geometrical patterns.

c) We possess reliable editions of Euclid and Archimedes.

d) The main result of the Greek victory was the expansion and hegemony of Athens.

e) The immediate consequence of Alexander’s campaign was the acceleration of the advance of Greek civilization over large sections of the Oriental world.

e) Euclid’s treatment is based on a logical deduction of theorems from a set of definitions, postulates, and axioms.

f) The most important contributions of Archimedes to mathematics were in the domain of what we now call the “integral calculus.”

• 5) Name the paragraphs which give answers to these questions:

a) What kind of work is the “Amalgest” by Ptolemy?

b) What was the main goal of the early Greek study of mathematics?

c) What books on mathematics did Archimedes write?

d) What centers of mathematical learning in ancient Greece could you mention?

e) What happened to the Orient when Rome conquered it?

6.2 The origin of the word “money”

• 1) Read the title and the words from the text (moneta, goddess Juno, Juno Moneta, Rome, temple, the mint) and guess what this text is about.

The English word “money” is believed to come from the Italian word “moneta” which has an interesting history. Today the word means “coin,” but in ancient Rome, and perhaps even earlier in Greece, the word meant “advisor,” one who warns, or one who makes people remember.

There are several accounts of how the meaning of the word changed based on a similar story about the goddess Juno. She presided over many aspects of life. One of these aspects was an advisor of the Roman people, so one of her names was Juno Moneta.

A flock of geese in Juno’s sanctuary on the Capitoline Hill squawked the alarm that saved Rome from an invasion of the Gauls in 390 B.C. A temple was built in honor of Juno Moneta at the site because her sacred geese had “warned” of the attack.

The first Roman mint was built near Juno Moneta’s temple in 289 B.C. Originally it produced bronze and later silver coins. Many of these coins were struck with the head of Juno Moneta on the face. We don’t know if this was done in tribute to Juno Moneta or just to identify the mint, but “moneta” became the word for both coin and mint, and eventually for the word “money.”

• 2) Say if the statements are true, false or there is no evidence in the text:

a) The word “moneta” comes from the Russian language.

b) The meaning of the word “moneta” changed in the course of time.

c) The goddess Juno was in charge of monetary matters.

d) The goddess Juno lived in the IVth century B.C.

e) The first Roman mint was built to commemorate the goddess Juno.

f) The first Roman mint produced gold coins.

g) Many coins had the head of Juno Moneta on its face.