Ptolemaei, Claudii, Opera quae exstant omnia: Vol. III, Fasc. 1. Apotelesmatica

by Ptolemy, Franz Boll (Editor), W. Hubner (Editor)

Best known for his 1906 discovery of lost texts in the Archimedes Palimpsest, Danish scholar Johan Ludvig Heiberg (1854 1928), professor of classical philology at Copenhagen, published numerous editions of ancient mathematicians, including Archimedes and Apollonius of Perga (also reissued in this series). Between 1898 and 1907, he published in three parts the extant astronomical works of Ptolemy, active in second-century Alexandria. The Ptolemaic system, his geocentric model of the universe, prevailed in the Islamic world and in medieval Europe until the time of Copernicus. This first part of Volume 1, published in 1898, contains a brief Latin preface and the Greek text of Books 1-6 of Ptolemy's major astronomical treatise, known as the Almagest. It demonstrates how to use astronomical observations to construct cosmological models and includes tables that make it possible for celestial phenomena to be calculated for arbitrary dates.

439 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1998

About the author

Geocentric model of Greek astronomer and geographer Ptolemy, who flourished in 2nd century at Alexandria, for the universe dominated cosmological theory until the Renaissance.

Ptolemy compiled Almagest , a comprehensive treatise on astronomy, geography, and mathematics, about 150.

The Ptolemaic system dominated medieval cosmology until Nicolaus Copernicus contradicted it.

Claudius Ptolemy (circa 90 – circa 168), a Roman citizen of Egypt, wrote. As a poet, he composed a single epigram in the Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule. Theodore Meliteniotes proposed possibly correct but late and unsupported birthplace in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the Thebaid circa 1360. No reason exists to suppose that he ever lived anywhere else.

Ptolemy authored at least three works of continuing importance to later Islamic and European science. People first knew originally Μαθηματικὴ Σύνταξις, "Mathematical Treatise"). The second Geography thoroughly discusses the knowledge of the Roman world. In the third, known sometimes as the Apotelesmatika (Ἀποτελεσματικά), more commonly as the Tetrabiblos (Τετράβιβλος, and in Latin as the Quadripartitum or four books, he attempted to adapt horoscopes to the Aristotelian natural philosophy of his day.