PAL

Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus

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Work A.1

Ptolemy
Almagest (Greek)

The Almagest (Greek: Μαθηματικὴ σύνταξις, ‘Mathematical Composition’; Arabic: al-Majisṭī, ‘The Greatest’) is generally considered the culmination of Greek astronomy and the single most important astronomical work until Copernicus’s De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (1543). It provides comprehensive mathematical models explaining all celestial movements in a geocentric universe and offers all the necessary data to calculate the positions of the seven planets for any time, past, present and future. The Almagest comprises 13 books dealing respectively with cosmology and trigonometry (Book I), spherical astronomy (II), the Sun (III), the Moon (IV-V), eclipses (VI), the fixed stars (VII-VIII), Mercury (IX), Venus and Mars (X), Jupiter and Saturn (XI), retrogradation (XII) and planetary latitudes (XIII).

Bibl.

General: J.-B.-J. Delambre, Histoire de l’astronomie ancienne, Paris, 1817, II, 67-410; F. Boll, ‘Studien über Claudius Ptolemäus. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der griechischen Philosophie und Astrologie’, Jahrbücher für Classische Philologie, Suppl. 21 (1894), 49-244: 66-76; O. Neugebauer, A History of Ancient Mathematical Astronomy, Berlin-New York, 1975, I, 21-261, and II, 836-838; R. R. Newton, The Crime of Claudius Ptolemy, Baltimore, 1977; N. M. Swerdlow, ‘Ptolemy on Trial’, The American Scholar 48 (1979), 523-531; O. Gingerich, ‘Was Ptolemy a Fraud?’, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society 21 (1980), 253-266; R. R. Newton, The Origins of Ptolemy’s Astronomical Parameters, Baltimore, 1982; N. W. Swerdlow, O. Neugebauer, Mathematical Astronomy in Copernicus’s De revolutionibus, New York, 1984, I, 33-41; C. Wilson, ‘The Sources of Ptolemy’s Parameters’, Journal for the History of Astronomy 15 (1984), 37-47; R. R. Newton, The Origins of Ptolemy’s Astronomical Tables, Baltimore, 1985; J. P. Britton, Models and Precision. The Quality of Ptolemy’s Observations and Parameters, New York, 1992; J. Evans, ‘Ptolemy Indicted Again’, Journal for the History of Astronomy 24 (1993), 145-147; L. Taub, Ptolemy’s Universe. The Natural Philosophical and Ethical Foundations of Ptolemy’s Astronomy, Chicago, 1993; G. Van Brummelen, Mathematical Tables in Ptolemy’s Almagest, PhD dissertation, Simon Fraser University, 1993; B. R. Goldstein, ‘Saving the Phenomena: The Background to Ptolemy’s Planetary Theory’, Journal for the History of Astronomy 28 (1997), 1-12; J. Evans, ‘The Origins of Ptolemy’s Cosmos’, in Cosmology Through Time. Ancient and Modern Cosmologies in the Mediterranean Area, eds S. Colafrancesco, G. Giobbi, Milano, 2003, 123-132; A. Jones, ‘Ptolemy’s Mathematical Models and Their Meaning’, in Mathematics and the Historian’s Craft: The Kenneth O. May Lectures, eds M. Kinyon, G. van Brummelen, New York, 2005, 23-42; B. R. Goldstein, ‘What’s New in Ptolemy’s Almagest?’, Nuncius 22 (2007), 261-285; R. Fitzpatrick, A Modern Almagest. An Updated Version of Ptolemy’s Model of the Solar System, The University of Texas at Austin, 2010 [published online]; O. Pedersen, A Survey of the Almagest. With Annotation and New Commentary by Alexander Jones, New York-Dordrecht, 2011 (first edition 1974); G. Aujac, Claude Ptolémée: Astronome, astrologue, géographe, Paris, 2012, third edition (first edition 1993), 23-67; A. Tihon, ‘Alexandrian Astronomy in the 2nd Century AD: Ptolemy and His Times’, in The Alexandrian Tradition. Interactions between Science, Religion, and Literature, eds L. A. Guichard, J. L. García Alonso, M. Paz de Hoz, Bern-Berlin, 2014, 73-91: 73-74; J. Feke, Ptolemy’s Philosophy. Mathematics as a Way of Life, Princeton-Oxford, 2018. Specific: J. G. Ottema, ‘Goniometrie, trigonometrie en koorden-tafel, volgens Claudius Ptolemaeus, uit het Grieks medegedeeld’, in Nieuwe Wis- en Natuurkundige Verhandelingen van het Genootschap, te Amsterdam, ter spreuke voerende Een onvermoeide arbied komt alles te boven, I.1: Verhandelingen, Amsterdam, 1844, 235-266; P. Kempf, Untersuchungen über die Ptolemäische Theorie der Mondbewegung, Berlin, 1878; G. W. Hill, ‘Ptolemy’s Problem’, Astronomical Journal 21 (1900), 33-35; J. K. Fotheringham, G. Longbottom, ‘The Secular Acceleration of the Moon’s Mean Motion as Determined from the Occultations in the Almagest’, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 75 (1915), 377-395; C. J. Schumacher, Untersuchungen über die ptolemäische Theorie der unteren Planeten, Münster, 1917; A. Rome, ‘Le problème de l’équation du temps chez Ptolémée’, Annales de la Société Scientifique de Bruxelles 59 (1939), 211-224; L. O. Kattsoff, ‘Ptolemy and Scientific Method: A Note on the History of an Idea’, Isis 38 (1947), 18-22; A. Rome, ‘La prosneuse des éclipses dans l’astronomie ptolémaïque. Note preliminaire’, L’Antiquité Classique 17 (1948), 509-518; B. L. van der Waerden, ‘Drei umstrittene Mondfinsternisse bei Ptolemaios’, Museum Helveticum 15 (1958), 106-109; A. Czwalina, ‘Ptolemaeus, die Bahnen der Planeten Venus und Merkur’, Centaurus 6 (1959), 1-35; V. Petersen, O. Schmidt, ‘The Determination of the Longitude of the Apogee of the Orbit of of the Sun According to Hipparchus and Ptolemy’, Centaurus 12 (1967), 73-96; W. Petri, ‘Zum ersten Buch des Almagest’, Rechenpfennige. Aufsätze zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte. Kurt Vogel zum 80. Geburtstag am 30. September 1968, München, 1968, 43-55; N. M. Swerdlow, Ptolemy’s Theory of the Distances and Sizes of the Planets: A Study of the Scientific Foundations of Medieval Cosmology, PhD dissertation, Yale University, 1968; J. P. Britton, ‘Ptolemy’s Determination of the Obliquity of the Ecliptic’, Centaurus 14 (1969), 29-41; V. M. Petersen, ‘The Three Lunar Models of Ptolemy’, Centaurus 14 (1969), 142-171; I. Dąmbska, ‘La théorie de la science dans les oeuvres de Claude Ptolémée’, Organon 8 (1971), 109-122: 112-117; W. Hartner, ‘Ptolemy, Azarquiel, Ibn al-Shāṭir, and Copernicus on Mercury. A Study of Parameters’, Archives Internationales d’Histoire des Sciences 24 (1974), 5-25; W. Hartner, ‘Ptolemy’s and Copernicus’ Mercury Models. An Accuracy Test’, Archives Internationales d’Histoire des Sciences 24 (1974), 367-369 ; O. Pedersen, ‘Logistics and the Theory of Functions: An essay in the history of Greek mathematics’, Archives Internationales d’Histoire des Sciences 24 (1974), 29-50; R. R. Newton, ‘The Authenticity of Ptolemy’s Eclipse and Star Data’, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society 15 (1974), 107-121; H. L. Mead, ‘The Methodology of Ptolemaic Astronomy: An Aristotelian View’, Laval Théologique et Philosophique 31 (1975), 55-74; E. Glowatzki, H. Göttsche, Die Sehnentafel des Klaudios Ptolemaios. Nach den historischen Formelplänen neu berechnet, München, 1976; K. Okruhlik, ‘The Interplay Between Theory and Observation in the Solar Model of Hipparchus and Ptolemy’, Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association (1978), 73-82; R. C. Riddell, ‘The Latitudes of Venus and Mercury in the Almagest’, Archive for History of Exact Sciences 19 (1978), 95-111; W. Hartner, ‘Ptolemy and Ibn Yūnus on Solar Parallax’, Archives Internationales d’Histoire des Sciences 30 (1980), 5-26; G. J. Toomer, ‘Hipparchus’ Empirical Basis for His Lunar Mean Motions: A Historical Footnote to Olaf Pedersen, A Survey of the Almagest, 161-4’, Centaurus 24 (1980), 97-109; B. R. Goldstein, ‘Problems Raised by Ptolemy’s Lunar Tables’, Journal for the History of Astronomy 13 (1982), 195-205; R. R. Newton, ‘The Authenticity of Ptolemy’s Star Data – II’, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society 24 (1983), 27-35; J. Evans, ‘Fonction et origine probable du point équant de Ptolémée’, Revue d’Histoire des Sciences 37 (1984), 193-213; J. Evans, ‘On the Function and the Probable Origin of Ptolemy’s Equant’, American Journal of Physics 52 (1984), 1080-1089; C. M. Taisbak, ‘Eleven Eighty-Thirds. Ptolemy’s Reference to Eratosthenes in Almagest 1.12’, Centaurus 27 (1984), 165-172; K. P. Moesgaard, ‘In Chase of an Origin for the Mean Planetary Motions in Ptolemy’s Almagest’, in From Ancient Omens to Statistical Mechanics. Essays on the Exact Sciences Presented to Asger Aaboe, eds J. L. Bergrenn, B. R. Goldstein, Copenhagen, 1987, 43-54; O. Pedersen, ‘The Almagest in Translation’ [Essay Review of G. J. Toomer, Ptolemy’s Almagest, London 1984], Journal for the History of Astronomy 18 (1987), 59-63;D. Rawlins, ‘Ancient Heliocentrists, Ptolemy, and the Equant’, American Journal of Physics 55 (1987), 235-239; L. Taub, Philosophy and Physics in Book One of the Mathematical Syntaxis: An Examination of the “Aristotelianism” of Ptolemy, PhD dissertation, University of Oklahoma, 1987; N. M. Swerdlow, ‘Ptolemy’s Theory of the Inferior Planets’, Journal for the History of Astronomy 20 (1989), 30-59; P. Kunitzsch, ‘Die Überlieferung des Almagest, griechisch-arabisch-lateinisch’, in Lingua restituta Orientalis. Festgabe für Julius Assfalg, ed. M. Görg, Wiesbaden, 1990, 203-210: 204-205; G. Van Brummelen, ‘The Computation of the Chord Table in Ptolemy’s Almagest’, Proceedings of the Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Mathematics, 7th Annual meeting, Kingston (Ontario), May 1991, IV, 285-295; G. Van Brummelen, ‘A Survey of Mathematical Tables in Ptolemy’s Almagest’, in Ad Radices. Festband zum fünfzigjährigen Bestehen des Instituts für Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften der Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, ed. A. von Gotstedter, Stuttgart, 1994, 155-170; G. Van Brummelen, ‘Lunar and Planetary Interpolation Tables in Ptolemy’s Almagest’, Journal for the History of Astronomy 25 (1994), 297-311; B. van Dalen, ‘On Ptolemy’s Table for the Equation of Time’, Centaurus 37 (1994), 97-153 (reprinted in B. van Dalen, Islamic Astronomical Tables. Mathematical Analysis and Historical Investigation, Farnham-Burlington, 2013, II); C. Mínguez, ‘El prefacio al Almagesto de Ptolomeo’, Thema: Revista de Filosofía 14 (1995), 17-35; M. T. Riley, ‘Ptolemy’s Use of His Predecessors’ Data’, Transactions of the American Philological Association 125 (1995), 221-250: 236-242; H. Thurston, ‘Three Solar Longitudes in the Almagest Due to Hipparchus’, Journal for the History of Astronomy 26 (1995), 164; P. Del Santo, G. Strano, ‘Observational Evidence and the Evolution of Ptolemy’s Lunar Model’, Nuncius 11 (1996), 93-122; J. Nevalainen, ‘The Accuracy of the Ecliptic Longitude in Ptolemy’s Mercury Model’, Journal for the History of Astronomy 27 (1996), 147-160; D. MacMinn, ‘An Analysis of Ptolemy’s Treatment of Retrograde Motion’, Journal for the History of Astronomy 29 (1998), 257-270; Y. Maeyama, ‘Determination of the Sun’s Orbit: Hipparchus, Ptolemy, al-Battānī, Copernicus, Tycho Brahe’, Archive for History of Exact Sciences 53 (1998), 1-49; D. Savoie, ‘Ptolémée et la ‘variation’ de la Lune’, Archives Internationales d’Histoire des Sciences 48 (1998), 3-10; G. Van Brummelen, ‘Computer Animations of Ptolemy’s Models of the Motions of the Sun, Moon and Planets’, Journal for the History of Astronomy 29 (1998), 271-274; B. Goldstein, A. C. Bowen, ‘The Role of Observations in Ptolemy’s Lunar Theories’, in Ancient Astronomy and Celestial Divination, ed. N. M. Swerdlow, Cambridge (Mass.)-London, 1999, 341-356; A. Jones, ‘A Likely Source of an Observation Report in Ptolemy’s Almagest’, Archive for History of Exact Sciences 54 (1999), 255-258; J. M. Steele, ‘A Re-analysis of the Eclipse Observations in Ptolemy’s Almagest’, Centaurus 42 (2000), 89-108; O. Gingerich, ‘The Trouble with Ptolemy’, Isis 93 (2002), 70-74; H. Thurston, ‘Greek Mathematical Astronomy Reconsidered’, Isis 93 (2002), 58-69; H. Thurston, ‘Ptolemy and the Arc between the Tropics’, Journal for the History of Astronomy 34 (2003), 231-232; B. R. Goldstein, J. Chabás, ‘Ptolemy, Bianchini, and Copernicus: Tables for Planetary Latitudes’, Archive for History of Exact Sciences 58 (2004), 453-473; A. Jones, ‘An ‘Almagest’ Before Ptolemy’s?’, in Studies in the History of the Exact Sciences in Honour of David Pingree, eds C. Burnett, J. P. Hogendijk, K. Plofker, M. Yano, Leiden-Boston, 2004, 129-136; N. Sidoli, Ptolemy’s Mathematical Approach: Applied Mathematics in the Second Century, PhD dissertation, University of Toronto, 2004; N. M. Swerdlow, ‘The Empirical Foundations of Ptolemy’s Planetary Theory’, Journal for the History of Astronomy 35 (2004), 249-271; C. C. Carman, ‘Rounding Numbers: Ptolemy’s Calculation of the Earth-Sun Distance’, Archive for History of Exact Sciences 63 (2005), 205-242; D. W. Duke, ‘Ptolemy’s Treatment of the Outer Planets’, Archive for History of Exact Sciences 59 (2005), 169-187; A. Jones, D. W. Duke, ‘Ptolemy’s Planetary Mean Motions Revisited’, Centaurus 47 (2005), 226-235; R. T. Macfarlane, P. S. Mills, ‘Bright and Conspicuous Stars in Ptolemy and Hipparchus: on the Mistranslation of ἐκφανής’, Centaurus 47 (2005), 178-180; N. W. Swerdlow, ‘Ptolemy’s Theories of the Latitudes of the Planets in the Almagest, Handy Tables, and Planetary Hypotheses, in Wrong for the Right Reasons, eds J. Z. Buchwald, A. Franklin, Dordrecht-Berlin, 2005, 41-71; A. Jones, ‘Ptolemy’s Ancient Planetary Observations’, Annals of Science 63 (2006), 255-290; A. C. Bowen, ‘The Demarcation of Physical Theory and Astronomy by Geminus and Ptolemy’, Perspectives on Science 15 (2007), 327-358; D. W. Duke, ‘A Year Length Hidden in Ancient Planetary Mean Motions’, Journal for the History of Astronomy 40 (2009) 213-216; C. C. Carman, ‘La Refutabilidad del Sistema de Epiciclos y Deferentes de Ptolomeo’, Principia 14 (2010), 211-239; J. Feke, ‘Meta-mathematical Rhetoric: Hero and Ptolemy against the Philosophers’, Historia Mathematica 41 (2014), 261-276; N. Sidoli, ‘Mathematical Tables in Ptolemy’s Almagest’, Historia Mathematica 41 (2014), 13-37; C. Tolsa, ‘The ‘Ptolemy’ Epigram: A Scholion on the Preface of the Syntaxis’, Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 54 (2014), 687-697; A. Jones, ‘Theon of Smyrna and Ptolemy on Celestial Modelling in Two and Three Dimensions’, in Mathematizing Space. The Objects of Geometry from Antiquity to the Early Modern Age, ed. V. De Risi, Cham, 2015, 75-103; A. Jones, ‘Interpolated Observations and Historical Observational Records in Ptolemy’s Astronomy’, in The Circulation of Astronomical Knowledge in the Ancient World, ed. J. M. Steele, Leiden-Boston, 2016, 316-349; P. D. Omodeo, I. Tupikova, ‘Cosmology and Epistemology: A Comparison between Aristotle’s and Ptolemy’s Approaches to Geocentrism’, in Spatial Thinking and External Representation. Towards a Historical Epistemology of Space, ed. M. Schemmel, Berlin, 2016, 145-174; L. V. Morrison, C. Y. Hohenkerk, F. R. Stephenson, ‘The Almagest Greek and Roman Occultations Re-Visited’, Journal for the History of Astronomy 48 (2017), 405-416; J. L. Zainaldin, ‘The Philosophical Justification for the Equant in Ptolemy’s Almagest’, Phronesis 62 (2017), 417-442; A. Szapiro, ‘Assumptions behind Ptolemy’s Proof of the Earth’s Centrality’, Journal for the History of Astronomy 49 (2018), 196-215; A. Tihon, ‘Le diagrame des horizons et les prosneuses des éclipses dans l’astronomie de Ptolémée’, Almagest 9 (2018), 60-87; C. C. Carman, ‘A Possible Date for Ptolemy’s Development of a Model for the Second Lunar Anomaly’, Journal for the History of Astronomy 50 (2019), 398-410; J. Chabás, Computational Astronomy in the Middle Ages: Sets of Astronomical Tables in Latin, Madrid, 2019, 21-32; D. W. Duke, ‘Ptolemy’s Instruments’, in Hellenistic Astronomy. The Science in Its Contexts, eds A. C. Bowen, F. Rochberg, Leiden-Boston, 2020, 246-258; J. C. Evans, ‘The Ptolemaic Planetary Hypotheses’, in Hellenistic Astronomy. The Science in Its Contexts, eds A. C. Bowen, F. Rochberg, Leiden-Boston, 2020, 112-124; A. Jones, ‘Limits of Observation and Pseudoempirical Arguments in Ptolemy’s Harmonics and Almagest’, in Instruments – Observations – Theories. Studies in the History of Astronomy in Honor of James Evans, eds A. Jones, C. Carman, 2020, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3928498, 147-175; N. M. Swerdlow, ‘A Curiosity: Did Ptolemy See Uranus?’, in Instruments – Observations – Theories. Studies in the History of Astronomy in Honor of James Evans, eds A. Jones, C. Carman, 2020, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3928498, 143-146; C. C. Carman, ‘The Gravitational Influence of Jupiter on the Ptolemaic Value for the Eccentricity of Saturn’, Archive for History of Exact Sciences 75 (2021), 439-454; G. L. Recio, ‘On the Use of Tables as Heuristic Tools in Ptolemaic Astronomy’, Archives Internationales d’Histoire des Sciences 71 (2021), 102-128. Star Catalogue: F. Boll, ‘Die Sternkataloge des Hipparch und des Ptolemaios’, Bibliotheca Mathematica 2 (1901), 185-195; C. H. F. Peters, E. B. Knobel, Ptolemy’s Catalogue of Stars. A Revision of the Almagest, Washington, 1915; J. L. E. Dreyer, ‘On the Origin of Ptolemy’s Catalogue of Stars’, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 77 (1917), 528-539; J. L. E. Dreyer, ‘On the Origin of Ptolemy’s Catalogue of Stars: Second Paper’, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 78 (1918), 343-349; H. Vogt, ‘Versuch einer Wiederherstellung von Hipparchs Fixsternverzeichnis’, Astronomische Nachrichten 224 (1925), 17-54; O. J. Tallgren, ‘Survivance arabo-romane du Catalogue d’étoiles de Ptolémée. Etudes philologiques sur différents manuscrits’, Studia Orientalia (1928), 202-283; A. Pannekoek, ‘Ptolemy’s Precession’, Vistas in Astronomy 1 (1955), 60-66; A. Czwalina, ‘Über einige Beobachtungsfehler des Ptolemäus und die Deutung ihrer Ursachen’, Centaurus 5 (1958), 283-306; Y. Maeyama, ‘Ancient Stellar Observations: Timocharis, Aristyllus, Hipparchus, Ptolemy: The Dates and Accuracies’, Centaurus 27 (1984), 280-310; J. Evans, ‘On the Origin of the Ptolemaic Star Catalogue’, Journal for the History of Astronomy 18 (1987), 155-172 and 233-278; J. Samsό, F. Castellό, ‘An Hypothesis on the Epoch of Ptolemy’s Star Catalogue According to the Authors of the Alfonsine Tables’, Journal for the History of Astronomy 19 (1988), 115-120; A. T. Fomenko, V. V. Kalashnikov, G. V. Nosovsky, ‘When Was Ptolemy’s Star Catalogue in Almagest Compiled in Reality? Statistical Analysis’, Acta Applicandae Mathematicae 17 (1989), 203-229; G. Graßhoff, The History of Ptolemy’s Star Catalogue, New York, 1990; M. Y. Shevchenko, ‘An Analysis of Errors in the Star Catalogues of Ptolemy and Ulugh Beg’, Journal for the History of Astronomy 21 (1990), 187-201; J. Włodarczyk, ‘Notes on the Compilation of Ptolemy’s Catalogue of Stars’, Journal for the History of Astronomy 21 (1990), 283-295; N. M. Swerdlow, ‘The Enigma of Ptolemy’s Catalogue of Stars’, Journal for the History of Astronomy 23 (1992), 173-183; A. T. Fomenko, V. V. Kalashnikov, G. V. Nosovsky, Geometrical and Statistical Methods of Analysis of Star Configurations. Dating Ptolemy’s Almagest, Boca Raton, 1993; W. Schlosser, B. Hoffmann, ‘Ptolemy’s Milky Way and the Modern Surface Photometries in the Visual Spectral Range’, in Science in Western and Eastern Civilization in Carolingian Times, eds P. L. Butzer, D. Lohrmann, Basel-Boston, 1993, 221-228; A. K. Dambis, Y. N. Efremov, ‘Dating Ptolemy’s Star Catalogue Through Proper Motions: The Hipparchan Epoch’, Journal for the History of Astronomy 31 (2000), 115-134; B. E. Schaefer, ‘The Latitude of the Observer of the Almagest Star Catalogue’, Journal for the History of Astronomy 32 (2001), 1-42; D. W. Duke, ‘Associations between the Ancient Star Catalogues’, Archive for History of Exact Sciences 56 (2002), 435-450; D. W. Duke, ‘Dating the Almagest Star Catalogue Using Proper Motions: A Reconsideration’, Journal for the History of Astronomy 33 (2002), 45-55; H. R. Dobler, ‘The Dating of Ptolemy’s Star Catalogue’, Journal for the History of Astronomy 33 (2002), 265-277; D. W. Duke, ‘The Depth of Association between the Ancient Star Catalogues’, Journal for the History of Astronomy 34 (2003), 227-230; E. Wright, ‘Visualization of the Almagest Star Catalogue’, Journal for the History of Astronomy 38 (2007), 222-226; F. Verbunt, R. H. van Gent, ‘The Star Catalogues of Ptolemaios and Ulugh Beg. Machine-readable Versions and Comparison with the Modern HIPPARCOS Catalogue’, Astronomy & Astrophysics 544 (2012), A.31, 34 pp.; B. E. Schaefer, ‘The Thousand Star Magnitudes in the Catalogues of Ptolemy, Al Sufi, and Tycho Are All Corrected for Atmospheric Extinction’, Journal for the History of Astronomy 44 (2013), 47-91; C. Marx, ‘On the Making of Ptolemy’s Star Catalog’, Archive for History of Exact Sciences 75 (2021), 21-42. In Greek (Hellenistic/Byzantine) (see also C.1.30): J. Mogenet, L’introduction à l’Almageste, Bruxelles, 1956; J. Mogenet, ‘Sur quelques scholies de l’Almageste’, in Le monde grec. Pensée, littérature, histoire, documents. Hommages à Claire Préaux, eds J. Bingen, G. Cambier, G. Nachterhael, Bruxelles, 1975, 302-322; A. Jones, ‘Ptolemy’s First Commentator’, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, New Series 80 (1990), i-vi and 1-61; E. Grant, ‘Ptolemaic Astronomy in Origen and Hippolytus’, in Ἀγαθὴ ἐλπίς. Studi storico-religiosi in onore di Ugo Bianchi, ed. G. Sfameni Gasparro, Roma, 1994, 291-303; D. Pingree, ‘The Teaching of the Almagest in Late Antiquity’, in The Sciences in Greco-Roman Society, ed. T. D. Barnes, Edmonton, 1994, 75-98 (reprinted in Pathways into the Study of Ancient Sciences. Selected Essays by David Pingree, eds I. Pingree, J. Steele, Philadelphia, 2014, 135-158); A. Jones, ‘A Posy of Almagest Scholia’, Centaurus 45 (2003), 69-78; A. Tihon, ‘Nicolas Eudaimonoioannes, réviseur de l’Almageste?’, Byzantion 73 (2003), 151-161; F. Acerbi, N. Vinel, B. Vitrac, ‘Les Prolégomènes à l’Almageste. Une édition à partir des manuscrits les plus anciens. Introduction générale – Parties I-III’, SCIAMVS 11 (2010), 53-210; A. Bernard, ‘The Significance of Ptolemy’s Almagest for its Early Readers’, Revue de Synthèse 131 (2010), 495-521; A. Jones, ‘Ancient Rejection and Adoption of Ptolemy’s Frame of Reference for Longitudes’, in Ptolemy in Perspective. Use and Criticism of His Work from Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century, ed. A. Jones, Dordrecht-Heidelberg-London-New York, 2010, 11-44; F. Acerbi, ‘Tolomeo in Laurenziana: Il primo papiro della Psephophoria (PL II/33)’, Analecta Papyrologica 26 (2014), 37-73; F. Acerbi, ‘Traces of Menelaus’ Sphaerica in Greek Scholia to the Almagest’, SCIAMVS 16 (2015), 91-124; A. Tihon, ‘Remarques sur les scolies anciennes de l’Almageste’, Almagest 6 (2015), 5-41; F. Acerbi, ‘Byzantine Recensions of Greek Mathematical and Astronomical Texts: A Survey’, Estudios Bizantinos 4 (2016), 133-213: 171-172, 179-180 and 196-204; F. Acerbi, ‘The Mathematical Scholia Vetera to Almagest I.10-15. With a Critical Edition of the Diagrams and an Explanation of Their Symmetry Properties’, SCIAMVS 18 (2017), 133-259. In Syriac: P. Kunitzsch, ‘Über einige Spuren der syrischen Almagestübersetzung’, in ΠΡΙΣΜΑΤΑ. Naturwissenschaftsgeschichtliche Studien. Festschrift für Willy Hartner, eds. Y. Maeyama, W. G. Saltzer, Wiesbaden, 1977, 203-210 (reprinted in P. Kunitzsch, Stars and Numbers. Astronomy and Mathematics in the Medieval Arab and Western Worlds, Aldershot, 2004, III); E. Villey, ‘Syriac Astronomical Texts (500-700 CE): Christian Voices Defending Ptolemaic Astronomy’, in New Themes, New Styles in the Eastern Mediterranean: Christian, Jewish, and Islamic Encounters, 5th-8th Centuries, eds H. Amirav, F. Celia, Leuven, 2017, 205-232. In Pahlavi: S. Buscherini, ‘The Translation of Almagest in Pahlavi: Zero in Persian Numerical System’, in Non licet stare caelestibus. Studies on Astronomy and its History offered to Salvo De Meis, eds A. Panaino, E. Bacchi, S. Buscherini, P. Ognibene, Milano-Udine, 2014, 137-150. In Sanskrit: D. Pingree, ‘Indian Reception of Muslim Versions of Ptolemaic Astronomy’, in Tradition, Transmission, Transformation. Proceedings of Two Conferences on Pre-Modern Science Held at the University of Oklahoma, eds F. J. Ragep, S. P. Ragep, Leiden-New York-Köln, 1996, 471-485 (reprinted in Pathways into the Study of Ancient Sciences. Selected Essays by David Pingree, eds I. Pingree, J. Steele, Philadelphia, 2014, 225-239); D. W. Duke, ‘The Equant in India: The Mathematical Basis of Ancient Indian Planetary Models’, Archive for History of Exact Sciences 59 (2005), 563-576. In Arabic (see also C.1.1-2): M. Steinschneider, ‘Die arabischen Bearbeiter des Almagest’, Bibliotheca Mathematica Neue Folge 6 (1892), 53-62; M. Alonso, ‘La tercera version del Almagesto en el siglo XII’, Al-Andalus 10 (1945), 453-454; F. Rosenthal, ‘Al-Kindī and Ptolemy’, Studi orientalistici in onore di Giorgio Levi della Vida, Roma, 1956, II, 436-456; P. Kunitzsch, Der Almagest – Die Syntaxis Mathematica des Claudius Ptolemäus in arabisch-lateinischer Überlieferung, Wiesbaden, 1974; P. Kunitzsch, Ibn aṣ-Ṣalāḥ: Zur Kritik der Koordinatenüberlieferung im Sternkatalog des Almagest. Arabischer Text nebst deutscher Übersetzung, Einleitung und Anhang, Göttingen, 1975 (Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen, Philologisch-Historische Klasse, Dritte Folge 94); P. Kunitzsch, ‘Arabic Criticism of Ancient Greek Traditions: Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ and the Almagest’, in Proceedings of the First International Symposium for the History of Arabic Science. April 5-12, 1976, eds A. Y. al Hassan, G. Karmi, N. Namnun, Aleppo, 1978, II, 85-90; F. Sezgin, Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums, VI: Astronomie, Leiden, 1978, 88-94 (no. I); A. I. Sabra, ‘An Eleventh-Century Refutation of Ptolemy’s Planetary Theory’, in Science and History. Studies in Honor of Edward Rosen, eds E. Hilftein, P. Czartoryski, F. D. Grande, Wrocław-Warszawa, 1978 (Studia Copernicana, XVI), 117-131 (reprinted in A. I. Sabra, Optics, Astronomy, and Logic. Studies in Arabic Science and Philosophy, Aldershot, 1994, XIV); G. Saliba, ‘Ibn Sīnā and Abū ʿUbayd al-Jūzjānī: The Problem of the Ptolemaic Equant’, Journal for the History of Arabic Science 4 (1980), 376-403 (reprinted in G. Saliba, A History of Arabic Astronomy. Planetary Theories During the Golden Age of Islam, New York-London, 1994, 85-112); A. I. Sabra, ‘The Andalusian Revolt Against Ptolemy: Averroes and al-Biṭrūjī’, in Transformation and Tradition in the Sciences. Essays in Honor of I. Bernard Cohen, Cambridge, 1984, 133-153 (reprinted in A. I. Sabra, Optics, Astronomy, and Logic. Studies in Arabic Science and Philosophy, Aldershot, 1994, XIV); P. Kunitzsch, Der Sternkatalog des Almagest. Die arabisch-mittelalterliche Tradition, 3 vols, Wiesbaden, 1986-1991; G. Saliba, ‘The Role of the Almagest Commentaries in Medieval Arabic Astronomy: A Preliminary Survey of Ṭūsī’s Redaction of Ptolemy’s Almagest’, Archives Internationales d’Histoire des Sciences 37 (1987), 3-20 (reprinted in G. Saliba, A History of Arabic Astronomy. Planetary Theories During the Golden Age of Islam, New York-London, 1994, 143-160); G. Saliba, ‘A Medieval Arabic Reform of the Ptolemaic Lunar Model’, Journal for the History of Astronomy 20 (1989), 157-164; P. Kunitzsch, ‘Die Überlieferung des Almagest, griechisch-arabisch-lateinisch’, in Lingua restituta Orientalis. Festgabe für Julius Assfalg, ed. M. Görg, Wiesbaden, 1990, 203-210: 205-207; G. Saliba, ‘Al-Qushjī’s Reform of the Ptolemaic Model for Mercury’, Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 3 (1993), 161-203; P. Kunitzsch, ‘Die astronomische Terminologie im Almagest’, in La formation du vocabulaire scientifique et intellectuel dans le monde arabe, ed. D. Jacquart, Turnhout, 1994, 55-65 (reprinted in P. Kunitzsch, Stars and Numbers. Astronomy and Mathematics in the Medieval Arab and Western Worlds, Aldershot, 2004, IV); G. Saliba, ‘A Sixteenth-Century Arabic Critique of Ptolemaic Astronomy: The Work of Shams al-Dīn al-Khafrī’, Journal for the History of Astronomy 25 (1994), 15-38; G. Saliba, ‘Early Arabic Critique of Ptolemaic Cosmology: A Ninth-Century Text on the Motion of the Celestial Spheres’, Journal for the History of Astronomy 25 (1994), 115-141; D. L. Voss, Ibn al-Haytham’s Doubts Concerning Ptolemy. A Translation and Commentary, PhD dissertation, University of Chicago, 1985; P. Kunitzsch, ‘The Role of al-Andalus in the Transmission of Ptolemy’s Planisphaerium and Almagest’, Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften 10 (1995-1996), 147-155 (reprinted in P. Kunitzsch, Stars and Numbers. Astronomy and Mathematics in the Medieval Arab and Western Worlds, Aldershot, 2004, VII); J. Lay, ‘L’abrégé de l’Almageste. Un inédit d’Averroès en version hébraïque’, Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 6 (1996), 23-61; G. Saliba, ‘A Redeployment of Mathematics in a Sixteenth-Century Arabic Critique of Ptolemaic Astronomy’, in Perspectives arabes et médiévales sur la tradition scientifique philosophique grecque, eds A. Hasnawi, A. Elamrani-Jamal, M. Aouad, Leuven-Paris, 1997, 105-122; G. Saliba, ‘Critiques of Ptolemaic Astronomy in Islamic Spain’, Al-Qanṭara 22 (1999), 3-25; P. Kunitzsch, ‘A Hitherto Unknown Arabic Manuscript of the Almagest’, Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften 14 (2001), 31-37 (reprinted in P. Kunitzsch, Stars and Numbers. Astronomy and Mathematics in the Medieval Arab and Western Worlds, Aldershot, 2004, V); J. Samsό, ‘Ibn al-Haytham and Jābir b. Aflaḥ’s Criticism of Ptolemy’s Determi­nation of the Parameters of Mercury’, Suhayl 2 (2001), 199-225 (reprinted in J. Samsό, Astrometeorologίa y astrologίa medievales, Barcelona, 2008, II, VII); J. Bellver, ‘On Jābir b. Aflāḥ’s Criticism of Ptolemy’s Almagest’, in A shared Legacy. Islamic Science East and West. Homage to Professor J. M. Millàs Villacrosa, eds E. Calvo Labarta et al., Barcelona, 2008, 181-189; H. Tahiri, ‘The Birth of Scientific Controversies. The Dynamics of the Arabic Tradition and its Impact on the Development of Science: Ibn al-Haytham’s Challenge of Ptolemy’s Almagest’, in The Unity of Science in the Arabic Tradition. Science, Logic, Epistemology and their Interactions, eds S. Rahman, T. Street, H. Tahiri, Dordrecht, 2008, 183-225; J. Bellver, ‘El lugar del Iṣlāḥ al-Maŷisṭī de Ŷābir b. Aflaḥ en la llamada «Rebelión andalusí contra la astronomía ptolemaica»’, Al-Qanṭara 30 (2009), 83-136; E. Nicolai, La tradizione greco-latina e arabo-latina del I libro dell’Almagesto. Saggio di analisi e traduzione, PhD dissertation, Università di Padova, 2010; J. Thomann, ‘Ein al-Fārābī zugeschriebener Kommentar zum Almagest (HS. Tehran Mağlis 6531)’, Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften 19 (2010-2011), 37-76; P. Kunitzsch, ‘Translators’ Errors in the Almagest, Arabic and Latin’, in Adorare caelestia, gubernare terrena: Atti del colloquio internazionale in onore di Paolo Lucentini (Napoli, 6-7 Novembre 2007), eds P. Arfé, I. Caiazzo, A. Sannino, Turnhout, 2011, 283-293; D. Grupe, ‘The ‘Thābit-Version’ of Ptolemy’s Almagest in MS Dresden Db.87’, Suhayl 11 (2012), 147-153; A. M. Gamini, H. M. Hamedani, ‘Al-Shīrāzī and the Empirical Origin of Ptolemy’s Equant in His Model of the Superior Planets’, Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 23 (2013), 47-67; M. Forcada, ‘Ibn Bājja’s Discourse on Cosmology (Kalām fī l-hayʾa) and the “Revolt” Against Ptolemy’, Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften 20-21 (2012-2014), 64-167; S. M. Mozaffari, ‘Bīrūnī’s Examination of the Path of the Centre of the Epicycle in Ptolemy’s Lunar Model’, Journal for the History of Astronomy 45 (2014), 123-127; S. M. Mozaffari, ‘Ptolemaic Eccentricity of the Superior Planets in the Medieval Islamic Period’, in Scientific Cosmopolitanism and Local Cultures: Religions, Ideologies, Societies. Proceedings of the 5th International Conference of the European Society for the History of Science (Athens, 1-3 November 2012), ed. G. Katsiampoura, Athens, 2014, 23-30; J. Thomann, ‘Al-Fārābīs Kommentar zum Almagest in sekundärer Überlieferung bei Ibn aṣ-Ṣalāḥ: Ein vorläufiger Bericht’, Asia 69 (2015), 99-113; S. Sela, ‘Al-Farghānī on the 48 Ptolemaic Constellations: A Newly Discovered Text in Hebrew Translation’, Aleph 16 (2016), 249-365; J. Thomann, ‘Terminological Fingerprints in a Commentary on the Almagest Attributed to al-Fārābī’, in Arabic and Islamic Studies in Europe and Beyond. Proceedings of the 26th Congress of the Union Européenne des Arabisants et Islamisants, Basel 2012, eds M. Reinkowski, M. Winet, Leuven, 2016, 301-312; E. Nicolai, ‘L’Almagesto arabo: alcune note sulle traduzioni greco-arabe di al-Ḥağğāğ e di Isḥāq b. Ḥunayn-Ṯābit b. Qurra’, Quaderni di Studi Arabi 12 (2017), 87-102; M. J. Parra, ‘A List of Arabic Manuscripts of Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī’s Taḥrīr al-Majisṭī’, Suhayl 16-17 (2018-2019), 251-322; M. Americo, An Analysis of Ninth-Century Reception of Claudius Ptolemy’s Astronomy in the Arabic Tradition, PhD dissertation, New York University, 2019; D. Grupe, ‘Thābit ibn Qurra’s Version of the Almagest and Its Reception in Arabic Astronomical Commentaries (based on the presentation held at the Warburg Institute, London, 5th November 2015)’, in Ptolemy’s Science of the Stars in the Middle Ages, eds D. Juste, B. van Dalen, D. N. Hasse, C. Burnett, Turnhout, 2020, 139-157; D. Grupe, ‘Manuscript Jaipur 20 and the Arabic Translation of Ptolemy’s Almagest by Thābit ibn Qurra’, in The First International Prof. Dr. Fuat Sezgin Symposium on History of Science in Islam Proceeding Book, eds F. Başar, M. Kaçar, M. C. Kaya, A. Z. Furat, Istanbul, 2020, 139-148; Y. T. Langermann, ‘Revamping Ptolemy’s Proof for the Sphericity of the Heavens: Three Arabic Commentaries on Almagest I.3’, in Ptolemy’s Science of the Stars in the Middle Ages, eds D. Juste, B. van Dalen, D. N. Hasse, C. Burnett, Turnhout, 2020, 159-180; J. Thomann, ‘The Oldest Translation of the Almagest Made for al-Maʾmūn by al-Ḥasan ibn Quraysh: A Text Fragment in Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ’s Critique on al-Fārābī’s Commentary’, in Ptolemy’s Science of the Stars in the Middle Ages, eds D. Juste, B. van Dalen, D. N. Hasse, C. Burnett, Turnhout, 2020, 117-138; J. Bellver, ‘Looted Libraries and Legitimation Policies: Ptolemy, the Library of al-Arašī and the Translation Movement in Toledo’, Arabica 68 (2021), 628-661; P. Hullmeine, ‘Correcting Ptolemy and Aristotle: Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ on Mistakes in the Almagest, On the Heavens, and Posterior Analytics’, Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 32 (2022), 201-246; S. Nikfahm-Khubravan, The Reception of Ptolemy’s Latitude Theories in Islamic Astronomy, PhD dissertation, McGill University, 2022. In Hebrew: M. Steinschneider, Die hebraeischen Uebersetzungen des Mittelalters und die Juden als Dolmetscher. Ein Beitrag zur Literaturgeschichte des Mittelalters, Berlin, 1893, II, 520-525; M. Zonta, ‘La tradizione ebraica dell’Almagesto di Tolomeo’, Henoch 15 (1993), 325-350. In Latin (see also A.1.1-9 and C.1): C. Kren, ‘A Medieval Objection to “Ptolemy”’, The British Journal for the History of Science 4 (1969), 378-393; J. L. Mancha, ‘A Note on Copernicus’ ‘Correction’ of Ptolemy’s Mean Synodic Month’, Suhayl 3 (2002-2003), 221-229; N. M. Swerdlow, ‘Tycho, Longomontanus, and Kepler on Ptolemy’s Solar Observations and Theory, Precession of the Equinoxes, and Obliquity of the Ecliptic’, in Ptolemy in Perspective. Use and Criticism of His Work from Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century, ed. A. Jones, Dordrecht-Heidelberg-London-New York, 2010, 151-202; A.-P. Segonds, C. Luna, ‘The Greek Text of Ptolemy, Almagest XIII, as a Source of Book VI of Copernicus’s De revolutionibus’, Journal for the History of Astronomy 44 (2013), 413-427; R. M. Nugayev, ‘The Ptolemy-Copernicus Transition: Intertheoric Context’, Almagest 4 (2013), 97-119; D. N. Hasse, ‘Averroes’ Critique of Ptolemy and Its Reception by John of Jandun and Agostino Nifo’, in Averroes’ Natural Philosophy and Its Reception in the Latin West, ed. J. J. M. Bakker, Leuven, 2015, 69-88; C. C. Carman, G. L. Recio, ‘Ptolemaic Planetary Models and Kepler’s Laws’, Archive for History of Exact Sciences 73 (2019), 39-124; J. Martínez Gázquez, ‘The Importance of Ptolemy and the Almagest in the Work of the Translators of Arabic Science in the Middle Ages’, Imago Temporis. Medium Aevum 13 (2019), 97-113.

Modern ed.

The editio princeps of the Greek text was prepared by Simon Grynaeus, who published it on Johannes Walderus’s press in Basel in 1538, together with an appended part containing Theon of Alexandria’s commentary on the Almagest, whose edition had been prepared by Joachim Camerarius (VD16 P 5200). The exemplar used for the Almagest is now MS Paris, BnF, gr. 2393 (see J. L. Heiberg, Claudii Ptolemaei opera quae exstant omnia, II: Opera astronomica minora, Leipzig, 1907, xxv and lxxiii). The authoritative critical edition of the Greek text is J. L. Heiberg, Claudii Ptolemaei opera quae exstant omnia, I: Syntaxis mathematica, 2 vols, Leipzig, 1898-1903 (with supplement on the MSS in vol. II: Opera astronomica minora, xviii-cxlix). Heiberg’s text has been translated into German by K. Manitius, Des Claudius Ptolemäus Handbuch der Astronomie, 2 vols, Leipzig, 1912-1913; and into English by G. J. Toomer, Ptolemy’s Almagest, London, 1984 (new edition Princeton, 1998). A former edition, together with a French translation, was made by N. Halma, Composition mathématique de Claude Ptolémée traduite pour la première fois du grec en français, sur les manuscrits originaux de la Bibliothèque Impériale de Paris, 2 vols, Paris, 1813-1816 (on the basis of several MSS and early printed editions available at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, but without critical apparatus). The Arabic and Latin translations are for the most part unavailable in a modern edition, with the exceptions of the star catalogue (VII.5-VIII.1), whose Arabic and Latin versions have received a critical edition by Kunitzsch, Der Sternkatalog; of Book I, whose several versions have been edited by Nicolai (the two main Arabic versions and Latin versions A.1.1, A.1.2 and A.1.3); and of the partial Latin translations A.1.3, edited by Grupe, and A.1.8, edited by De Vivo.