Translated from the Greek by George of Trebizond, who simultaneously wrote an extensive commentary on the whole text (C.1.19). The two works were completed in December 1451 and presented to Pope Nicholas V, who had commissioned the translation. But the pope was dissatisfied with the commentary and rejected the dedication altogether. Later on, George addressed both the translation and the commentary successively to the Venetian patrician Iacopo Antonio Marcello in 1460-1462, to Mehmed II the Conqueror in 1466 and to Matthias Corvinus in 1467. After George died, his son Andreas dedicated both works to Pope Sixtus IV in 1480-1481. George’s Greek exemplar for the translation was a manuscript from Cardinal Bessarion’s library, which Fabio Acerbi identified with Venice, BNM, Fondo antico gr. Z. 310 (see D. Speranzi, ‘Scritture, libri e uomini all’ombra di Bessarione. I. Appunti sulle lettere del Marc. Gr. Z. 527 (coll. 679)’, Rinascimento 57 (2017), 137-195: 184 n. 184). MS Vatican, BAV, Vat. lat. 2054 contains George’s autograph corrections. George’s translation is the source text of commentaries C.1.25, C.1.26 and C.1.29.
Text ‘(Vatican, BAV, Vat. lat. 2054) (1r-3v) [preface to sixtus iv] Ad sanctissimum dominum nostrum Sixtum Quartum pont<ificem> max<imum>, Andree Trapezuntii, Georgii filii, in paternam Almagesti Ptolomaei traductionem prefatio. Evolventi mihi nuper libros patris mei, Georgii Trapezuntii, viri optimi et omni doctrinarum genere insignis — Arthaxerxem offerentis studium magnopere comprobasse. (3v-20r) [book i] Magne compositionis Ptolomei libri ad Georgio Trapezuntio e Graeco conversi incipiunt. Peroptime mihi videntur, o Syre, qui bene philosophati sunt, speculativam philosophie partem ab activa separasse. Nam etsi activae accidat parti — poenitus omnibus accidunt. Finis primi libri feliciter. (20v-45v) [book ii] Incipit liber secundus Ptolomei Magne compositionis. De universali orbis terrarum qui a nobis habitatur. Cap<itulum> I. Quoniam iam in primo huius constitutionis libro ea perstrinximus — quando occidentalior quam Alexandria est. Finis secundi libri feliciter. (45v-61r) [book iii] Incipit liber tertius. De magnitudine anni temporis. Capitulum primum. Cum in superioribus quae universaliter ac mathematice de caelo — et sexagesimas octo proxime [followed by the erased lines]. Finis tertii libri M. C. P. (61r-78v) [book iv] Incipit liber quartus Ptolomei Magnae compositionis. A quibus observationibus Lune accidentia examinanda sunt. Cum iam in precedenti libro que Solis motui accidunt — rationibus nostris convenire videamus. Finis quarti libri. (78v-99r) [book v] Incipit liber V Magne compositionis Claudii Ptholomei. De constructione instrumenti quod astrolabium vocant. Verum ad oppositiones quidem atque coniunctiones et eclipsis que in eis — nobis erant invenienda (99v-119r) [book vi] Incipit liber VI Magnae compositionis Ptolomei. De coniunctionibus Solis et Lunae. Cum vero deinceps de coniunctionibus atque oppositionibus eclipticis Lunae ac Solis — inclinationem facture sint. (119r-137r) [book vii] Incipit liber VII feliciter Ptolomei. Quod stelle non erratice semper eundem inter se situm servant. Quoniam in superioribus tam recte quam declivis — sexte 2. Finit VII liber. (138r-148r) [book viii] Incipit liber octavus. Expositio tabularis constellationis hemisperii australis. Fulgens earum que sunt in extremitate — et Lune in ipsis ex parte declinationibus. (148v-168r) [book ix] Liber VIIII Magne compositionis Ptholomei incipit. De ordine globorum Solis, Lune ceterorumque stellarum erraticarum. Verum que de fixis summatim quantum ab apparentibus — ab observationis gradibus Libre sex. (168r-181r) [book x] Incipit liber X Magne compositionis Ptolomei. Demonstratio maxime longitudinis stelle Veneris. Sed Mercurii quidem suppositionis inequalitatum — tempore gradus Cancri 16.40. (181r-198v) [book xi] Liber XI Magne compositionis Ptolomei incipit. Demonstratio excentricitatis et maxime longitudinis stelle Iovis. Demonstratis iam motibus periodicis et locis — ad apparentem eius locum perveniemus. (199r-213v) [book xii] Incipit liber XII Magne compositionis Ptolomei. De iis que premittuntur ad regressus planetarum demonstrandos. His demonstratis sequitur ut regressus etiam qui singulis quinque — (213r) quintus vespertinas. Est autem tabula haec [followed by the table f. 213v]. (214r-232r) [book xiii] Incipit XIII liber et ultimus Magne compositionis Pto<lomei>. De suppositionibus que ad motus latitudinis quinque planetarum pertinent. Verum cum ad absolvendum quinque planetarum doctrinam duo hec restent — ad ostentationem accomodatus petebat pertractatis idoneum hic modum ac finem haec est compositio consecuta.’
Bibl. P. L. Rose, The Italian Renaissance of Mathematics. Studies on Humanists and Mathematicians from Petrarch to Galileo, Genève, 1975, 41-42; J. Monfasani, Collectanea Trapezuntiana: Texts, Documents, and Bibliographies of George of Trebizond, Binghamton (NY), 1984, 285 (preface to Mehmed II), 748-750 (text) and 786-789 (preface to Sixtus IV); L. Giorgetti, ‘Da Giorgio Trapezunzio a Luca Gaurico intorno a Tolomeo’, Roma nel Rinascimento (2002), 201-212: 203; M. Shank, ‘The Almagest, Politics, and Apocalypticism in the Conflict between George of Trebizond and Cardinal Bessarion’, Almagest 8 (2017), 49-83.
Modern ed. None, except the preface to Mehmed II, ed. A. Mercati, ‘Le due lettere di Giorgio di Trebisonda a Maometto II’, Orientalia Christiana Periodica 9 (1943), 65-99: 85-92; and Andreas of Trebizond’s preface to Sixtus IV, ed. M. Fuiano, ‘Astrologia ed umanesimo in due prefazioni di Andrea di Trebizonda’, Atti dell’Accademia Pontaniana, Nuova Serie 17 (1968), 385-412: 399-405, and ed. Monfasani, 789-795.
