Euclid's Elements

Euclid's Elements is the oldest systematic treatise on geometry. For more than twenty centuries the Elements was the major textbook model in the study and teaching of mathematics. Also in other fields Euclid's work led the way. The philosopher Spinoza wrote his work Ethics along the lines of the Elements and so did the physicist Newton when he composed his opus magnum Principia.

The Elements is often considered as one of the documents, next to the Bible, that had the most impact on the Western culture. However, according to modern mathematical standards of rigor, the Elements show some shortcomings. These have been repaired as late as the 1890s by the German mathematician Hilbert.