Nicomachus of Gerasa | |
|---|---|
 Plato (left) and Nicomachus (right), as inventors of music, from a 12th-century manuscript | |
| Born | c. 60 |
| Died | c. 120 |
| Notable work | Introduction to Arithmetic Manual of Harmonics |
| Era | Ancient Roman philosophy |
| School | Neopythagoreanism |
Main interests | Arithmetic, Music |
Notable ideas | Multiplication tables |
Nicomachus of Gerasa (Greek: Νικόμαχος; c. 60 – c. 120 AD) was an Ancient Greek Neopythagorean philosopher from Gerasa, in the Roman province of Syria (now Jerash, Jordan). Like many Pythagoreans, Nicomachus wrote about the mystical properties of numbers, best known for his works Introduction to Arithmetic and Manual of Harmonics, which are an important resource on Ancient Greek mathematics and Ancient Greek music in the Roman period. Nicomachus' work on arithmetic became a standard text for Neoplatonic education in Late antiquity, with philosophers such as Iamblichus and John Philoponus writing commentaries on it. A Latin paraphrase by Boethius of Nicomachus's works on arithmetic and music became standard textbooks in medieval education.