What is the role of Euclid’s Elements today?

Pythagoras theorem, listed as Proposition 47 (and 48) in Book 1 of Euclid’s Elements, image created with GeoGebra

While Euclid’s Elements is commonly considered to be the most famous and most successful mathematics textbook ever, nowadays it seems to be hardly read anymore, not even by professional mathematicians. Why? What is the role of Euclid’s Elements today? Where and how does it live on, and who would benefit from reading it?

About Euclid’s Elements

Euclid’s Elements is a collection of 13 books, written around 300 BC. In contrast to Euclid whose life is largely a mystery (some even question whether it was a single person), the books of the Elements have been studied for more than 2000 years, thanks to being copied and translated again and again across various countries and cultures. For over two millennia it set the gold standard for rigorous mathematics. Indeed, only the Bible has been more widely published or studied in the Western world. For centuries Elements was not merely a scholarly curiosity but part of a general education and knowledge of Euclid’s geometry was once required of all students. Yet paradoxically, in the 21st century Elements is no longer central to mathematics, even many mathematicians rarely read it. While the legacy of Euclid’s logical framework endures, Elements itself has faded in everyday use. As the Wikipedia history of Elements puts it, by the 20th century its content was “universally taught through other school…