Greek mathematicians

WARNING: I love Greek mathematics. The modern world hasn't treated it well. Studying Greek mathematics can be an excellent educational experience, if done right.

The main difference between professional historians and most of us is that the professionals realize how carefully sources have to be treated.

The older the subject, the more carefully they have to be treated. And there is a huge change in the nature of source material as time goes on.

Wikipedia has in principle rather firm criteria for sources:

Every fact should be linked to a reliable source.

This ideal is not entirely practical, rarely implemented, and rarely enforced (at least in mathematics). Partly because the criteria are not so precise in all circumstances, and partly because mathematics is an unusual subject, with its own inner logic. But also partly because many of the articles are written by mathematicians who don't really understand the point.

The problem of understanding how to deal correctly with sources is not a mere formal requirement; it is the heart and soul of writing good history.