History Of Magic Squares

• Chinese literature dating from as early as 2800 B.C., when a Magic Square known as the "Loh-Shu", or "scroll of the river Loh" (see above), was invented by Fuh-Hi, the mythical founder of Chinese civilisation
• Greek writings dating from about 1300 B.C.
• the works of Theon of Smyrna in 130 A.D.
• use by Arabian astrologers in the ninth century when drawing up horoscopes
• Arabic literature, written by Abraham ben Ezra, dating from the eleventh century
• India, dating from the eleventh or twelfth century, where the earliest fourth order magic square was found, in Khajuraho
• the writings of the Greek mathematician, Emanuel Moschopulus, whose works now reside in the National Library in Paris
• more recently, magic squares appeared in Chinese literature during the latter part of the posterior Chou dynasty (951 - 1126 A.D.) or the beginning of the Southern Sung dynasty (1127 - 1333 A.D.)
• the works of Cornelius Agrippa, a German physician and theologian from the sixteenth century, who constructed seven magic squares, of orders three to nine inclusive, which he associated with the seven planets then known (including both the Sun and the Moon)
• art, with the relatively well-known magic square which can be found in Albert Dürer's engraving " Melencolia", where the date of its creation, 1514 AD, may be seen in the centre two cells of the bottom row
• a detailed French work, published in 1838 A.D.

Further references about their history can be found at David Singmaster's Chronology Of Recreational Mathematics page.

The owner of this website, Mark Farrar, is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking MarkFarrar.co.uk to Amazon properties including, but not limited to, Amazon.co.uk, Javari.co.uk, Amazon.de, Javari.de, Amazon.fr, Javari.fr, Amazon.it and/or Amazon.es.