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Ptolemy's Almagest Revised ed. Edition
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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.
- ISBN-109780691002606
- ISBN-13978-0691002606
- EditionRevised ed.
- PublisherPrinceton University Press
- Publication dateOctober 19, 1998
- LanguageEnglish
- Dimensions6.25 x 1.25 x 9.5 inches
- Print length712 pages
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Editorial Reviews
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"On the whole the accuracy and faithfulness to the original, including the small but important matter of a scrupulous adherence to Ptolemy's own mathematical notations, are exemplary."---G.E.R. Lloyd, The Times Literary Supplement
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"Whatever we now understand of Ptolemy ... is in this book."--Noel Swerdlow, University of Chicago
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- ASIN : 0691002606
- Publisher : Princeton University Press; Revised ed. edition (October 19, 1998)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 712 pages
- ISBN-10 : 9780691002606
- ISBN-13 : 978-0691002606
- Item Weight : 2.2 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.25 x 1.25 x 9.5 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #539,631 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #868 in Astronomy (Books)
- #1,731 in History & Philosophy of Science (Books)
- #16,092 in Unknown
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I couldn’t have done much progress without two excellent commentaries. Olaf Pedersen’s “A Survey of the Almagest” (with annotation and new commentary by Alexander Jones, Springer, 2010) was very helpful in revealing the mathematical aspects in Almagest. Even more important for me was James Evans’ “The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy” (Oxford University Press, 1998) since Evans both explained the historical background of Almagest and helped in several mathematical details. An armillary sphere would also have been very helpful in getting a concrete view of the rotations. I didn’t have it, but I made a primitive prototype from a metal wire. With the help of these tools I managed to get a fairly clear picture of the Books I-IV, ca. 200 pages on Ptolemy’s mathematical tools and on solar and lunar motions, in ca. 2.5 months (after normal working days and on weekends). Thereafter, I spent ca. 3 weeks for a fairly superficial overview of the rest of the book. I got what I wanted: a basic understanding of Almagest.
Here are two of my favourite passages. On pages 153-156 Ptolemy shows a “curve fitting” on solar motion. He demonstrates how the parameters of eccentric model are adjusted to match the calculated intervals between equinoxes and solstices with the observations by Hipparchus. On page 206 he describes the attitude of a real scientist: “For those who approach this science in a true spirit of enquiry and love of truth ought to use any new methods they discover, which give more accurate results, to correct not merely the ancient theories, but their own too, if they need it. They should not think it disgraceful, when the goal they profess to pursue is so great and divine, even if their theories are corrected and made more accurate by others beside themselves.”