Category:Almagest
The star catalogue in the Almagest is based on the epoch 20 July 137 CE (1 Thoth 885 Nabonassar). It's author is given as the librarian of Alexandria (Egypt), Claudius Ptolemy and its original title is Μαθηματικὴ Σύνταξις (Mathēmatikē Syntaxis). Yet, modern scholars assume that Claudius Ptolemy's role was rather comparable with an editor in our time, compiling or supervising the material (chapters?) of several different authors.
The Almagest served as the standard book on astronomy for the next millennium in both the Christian and the Islamic tradition. As such, it was translated from the original Greek into Arabic and later into mediaeval Latin.
The Greek names in the solar system are:
| Greek | Romanization | English | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ἥλιος | Hḗlios | Sun | |
| Σελήνη | Selḗnē | Moon | |
| Ζεύς | Zeús | Jupiter | |
| Ἄρης | Árēs | Mars | |
| Ἀφροδίτη | Aphrodítē | Venus | The equivalents for the "morning star" and "evening star" are ... Phosphoros ... |
| Ἑρμῆς | Hermē̃s | Mercury | |
| Κρόνος | Kronos | Saturn |
The sections of the star catalogue are concluded with the following phrases:
| Ptolemaios
(Greek, Heiberg's edition 1898) |
English
(Toomer 1984) |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ βορείου μέρους ἀστέρες τέ, ὥν α μεγέθουςἢ, β’ τη, γ’ πα, δ’ ρος, εἴση, ς’ ῃ, ἀμαυροὶ ἢ, νεφελοειδὴς α. | {Total for the northern segment: 360 stars, 3 of the first magnitude, 18 of the second, 81 of the third, 177 of the fourth, 58 of the fifth, 13 of the sixth, 9 faint, 1 nebulous} | ||
| ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ ξῳδιακοῦ ἀστέρες τμε, ὥν πρώτου μεγέθους ε, β’ θ, γ’ ξδ, δ’ βλῃ, ε’ φε, ξ’ κς, νεφελοειδεῖς γ', καὶ ὁ Πλόκαμος. | Total for the zodiac: 346 stars, 5 of the first magnitude, 9 of the second, 364 of the third, 133 of the fourth, 105 of the fifth, 27 of the sixth, 3 nebulous, and Coma [Berenices] } | ||
| ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ νοτίου μέρους ἀστέρες τις, ὥν α μεγέθους ξ, | Total for the southern region 316 stars, 7 of the first magnitude, 18 of the second, 63 of the third, 164 of the fourth, 54 of the fifth, 9 of the sixth, 1 nebulous. | ||
| ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ πάντες ἀστέρες απβ, ὥν α μεγέθους ἱὲ, β’ μὲ, 21 ὁ Πλόκαμος. | Total for all stars 1022, 15 of the first magnitude, 45 of the second, 208 of the third, 474 of the fourth, 217 of the fifth, 49 of the sixth, 9 faint, 5 nebulous, plus Coma [Berenices] |
Pages in category "Almagest"
The following 58 pages are in this category, out of 58 total.
