Ptolemy S Science Of The Stars In The Middle Ages

Claudius Ptolemy (c. 100-170 AD) is one of the most influential scholars of all time. While he is also the author of treatises on geography, optics and harmonics, his fame primarily stems from two works on the science of the stars, dealing with mathematical astronomy (the Almagest) and astrology (the Tetrabiblos). The Almagest and the Tetrabiblos remained the fundamental texts on the science of the stars for some 1500 years. Both were translated several times into Arabic and Latin and were heavily commented upon, glossed, discussed, and also criticised and improved upon, in the Islamic world and in Christian Europe. Yet, the reception of Ptolemy in medieval cultures is still to a large extent a terra incognita of the history of science. The Arabic and Latin versions of the Almagest and the Tetrabiblos are for the most part unavailable in modern editions, their manuscripts remain largely unexplored and, generally speaking, their history has never been systematically investigated. This volume gathers together fifteen contributions dealing with various aspects of the reception of Ptolemy's astronomy and astrology in the Islamic world and in Christian Europe up to the seventeenth century. Contributions are by Jose Bellver, Jean-Patrice Boudet, Josep Casulleras, Bojidar Dimitrov, Dirk Grupe, Paul Hullmeine, Alexander Jones, Richard L. Kremer, Y. Tzvi Langermann, H. Darrel Rutkin, Michael H. Shank, Nathan Sidoli, Carlos Steel, Johannes Thomann and Henry Zepeda.

This book provides an overview of the astronomical practices that continued through the so-called "Dark Ages." Like the astronomies of traditional societies, early medieval astronomies established a religious framework of sacred time and ritual calender; here Christian feasts tied to a pre-Christian ritual solar calender, the date of Easter tied to the Hebrew lunar calender; and the timing of monastic prayers in terms of the course of the stars. Coupled with the remnants of ancient geometrical astronomy, these provided the framework for the rebirth of astronomy with the rise of the medieval universities.

Ptolemy's Almagest shares with Euclid's Elements the glory of being the scientific text longest in use. From its conception in the second century up to the late Renaissance, this work determined astronomy as a science. During this time the Almagest was not only a work on astronomy; the subject was defined as what is described in the Almagest. The cautious emancipation of the late middle ages and the revolutionary creation of the new science in the 16th century are not conceivable without reference to the Almagest. This text lifted European astronomy to the high standard of knowledge on which the new science flourished. Before, the Ptolemaic models of the orbits of the sun, the moon, and the planets had been refined by Arabic astronomers. They provided the structural elements with which Copernicus and Kepler ushered in the era of modern astronomy. The Almagest survived the destruction of its epicyclic representation of the planetary orbits in the conceptual traces left behind in the theories of its successors. The clear separation of the sidereal from the tropical year, the celestial coordinate systems, the concepts of time, the forms of the constellations, and brightness classifications of celestial objects are, among many other things, still part of the astronomical canon even today.

Ptolemy's Almagest is one of the most influential scientific works in history. A masterpiece of technical exposition, it was the basic textbook of astronomy for more than a thousand years, and still is the main source for our knowledge of ancient astronomy. This translation, based on the standard Greek text of Heiberg, makes the work accessible to English readers in an intelligible and reliable form. It contains numerous corrections derived from medieval Arabic translations and extensive footnotes that take account of the great progress in understanding the work made in this century, due to the discovery of Babylonian records and other researches. It is designed to stand by itself as an interpretation of the original, but it will also be useful as an aid to reading the Greek text.

MEDIEVAL CAREERS IN MEDIEVAL TIMES Medieval Careers in Medieval Times, Volume 1 includes Seven Medieval "Career" lesson plans. Each plan includes short lectures or "discussions" about the career and related historical topics. Engaging activities and review games reinforce the lesson. Worksheets, teacher's keys, book and movie suggestions are also included. The following careers are covered in Volume 1: Pages and Squires; Kings, Queens and the Feudal System; Jesters; Knights and Heraldry; Cooks, Bakers and Brewers; Barbers and Apothecaries; Astrologers

Gives accurate and reliable summaries of the current state of research. It includes entries on philosophers, problems, terms, historical periods, subjects and the cultural context of Renaissance Philosophy. Furthermore, it covers Latin, Arabic, Jewish, Byzantine and vernacular philosophy, and includes entries on the cross-fertilization of these philosophical traditions. A unique feature of this encyclopedia is that it does not aim to define what Renaissance philosophy is, rather simply to cover the philosophy of the period between 1300 and 1650.

Published over a period of 20 years the essays collected together in this volume all relate to the lasting human preoccupation with cosmological matters and modern responses to them. The eclecticism of the typical medieval scholar might now seem astonishing, regrettable, amusing, or derisory, according to one's view of how rigid intellectual barriers should be. In Stars, Fate & Mind North argues that we will seriously misunderstand ancient and medieval thought if we are not prepared to share a willingness to look across such frontiers as those dividing astrology from ecclesiastical history, biblical chronology from astronomy, and angelic hierarchies from the planetary spheres, theology from the theory of the continuum, celestial laws from terrestrial, or the work of the clockmaker from the work of God himself, namely the universe. Surveying the work of such controversial scholars as Alexander Thom and Immanuel Velikovsky this varied volume brings together current scholarship on cosmology, and as the title suggest considers the confluence of matters of the stars, fate and the mind. The collection is accompanied by further commentary from the author and new illustrations.