Foundations of geometry different sets of axioms for Euclidean geometry, any of these can replace the Euclidean parallel postulate. The following partial list indicates some of these theorems that are of historical interest. Absolute geometry is a geometry based on an axiom system consisting of all the axioms giving Euclidean geometry except for the parallel postulate or any of its alternatives. The term was introduced by János Bolyai in 1832. It is sometimes referred to as neutral geometry, as it is neutral with respect to the parallel postulate. In Euclid's "Elements", the first 28 propositions and Proposition I.31 avoid using the parallel postulate,
Menelaus of Alexandria great circle arcs, which he named "trilaterals") and proves Menelaus' theorem on collinearity of points on the edges of a triangle (which may have been previously known) and its analog for spherical triangles. It was later translated by the sixteenth century astronomer and mathematician Francesco Maurolico. The lunar crater Menelaus is named after him. The titles of a few books by Menelaus have been preserved: Menelaus of Alexandria Menelaus of Alexandria (; , "Menelaos ho Alexandreus"; c. 70 – 140 CE) was a Greek mathematician and astronomer, the first to recognize geodesics on a curved surface as natural analogs of