"After Apollonius Greek mathematics came to a dead stop. It is true that there were some epigones, such as Diocles and Zenodorus... But apart from trigonometry, nothing great nothing new appeared. The geometry of the conics remained in the form Apollonius gave it, until Descartes. ...The "Method" of Archimedes was lost sight of, and the problem of integration remained where it was, until it was attacked anew in the 17th century... Germs of projective geometry were present, but it remained for Desargues and Pascal to bring these to fruition. ...Higher plane curves were studied only sporadically... Geometric algebra and the theory of proportions were carried over into modern times as inert traditions, of which the inner meaning was no longer understood. The Arabs started algebra anew, from a much more primitive point of view... Greek geometry had run into a blind alley."