[asolove]

These are more or less the first people to think about geometry rigorously as an abstract system. Anyone previous would have just pointed to the hypotenuse and said “it’s that length right there” and not asked a further question.

[dontlikeyoueith]

> more or less the first people to think about geometry rigorously as an abstract system.

The first people whose thinking was preserved until the present.

Which is still noteworthy, but a different thing.