timelets

The [Roman] empire is a constant presence in our evidence from this period, and it enters mathematical discourse in several ways. Managing an army, collecting taxes, keeping a census on such a vast scale implied centralized administrative practices (accounts, tax rolls, land surveys). Mathematics was also used to articulate views about politics, society and morals. It would be impossible to describe our period in a few words: let us just say that the world had become even larger than after Alexander’s expedition, exchanges of all types increased; and the textual past kept accumulating in the form of books and libraries.

S.Cuomo. Ancient Mathematics.

As the scale increases, what can't be mapped can't be governed or reflected upon.