Ptolemy in Perspective: Use and Criticism of his Work from Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century (Archimedes)

Ptolemy was the most important physical scientist of the Roman Empire, and for a millennium and a half his writings on astronomy, astrology, and geography were models for imitation, resources for new work, and targets of criticism. Ptolemy in Perspective traces reactions to Ptolemy from his own times to ours. The nine studies show the complex processes by which an ancient scientist and his work gained and subsequently lost an overreaching reputation and authority. Introduction Anne Tihon An unpublished astronomical papyrus contemporary with Ptolemy Alexander Jones Ancient rejection and Adoption of Ptolemy’s Frame of Reference for Longitudes Stephan Heilen Ptolemy’s doctrine of the Terms and its reception Florian Mittenhuber The tradition of texts and maps in Ptolemy’s Geography F. Jamil Ragep Islamic reactions to Ptolemy’s imprecisions H. Darrel Rutkin The use and abuse of Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos in Renaissance and early modern Europe: two case studies (Giovanni Pico della Mirandola and Filippo Fantoni) N. M. Swerdlow Tycho, Longomontanus, and Kepler on Ptolemy’s solar observations and theory, precession of the equinoxes, and obliquity of the ecliptic John M. Steele Dunthorne, Mayer, and Lalande on the secular acceleration of the moon Bibliography