The purpose of this little book is to invite the reader on a mathematical promenade. We pay a visit to Hipparchus, Newton and Gauss, but also to many contemporary mathematicians. We play with a bit of algebra, topology, geometry, complex analysis, combinatorics, and computer science.

This book, therefore, stands back from the issue to examine the French debate on national identity - a debate which is conventional, contradictory and lends itself to manipulation.

Travelling through time and space, the epigram — a short engraved poem that became a literary genre over time — came to stand at the intersection of epigraphy, archeology, literature and history. Standing at the very crossroad of these disciplines, this book intends to present its subject "dans tous ses états", that is to say in all its forms.