Ptolemy's Cosmology in Greek and Arabic

Ptolemy's Cosmology in Greek and Arabic PDF

Author: Paul Hullmeine

Publisher:

Published: 2024-02-15

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9782503607177

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The most influential work of ancient astronomy is the Almagest of Ptolemy (fl. 2nd century AD). But that work does not tell us everything about its author's views regarding the heavens. Sometime after completing it, Ptolemy turned his attention to giving a physical account of celestial motion. The result is his most important cosmological work, the Planetary Hypotheses, a bold attempt to provide a celestial physics that coheres with the mathematical account of astronomical observations in his Almagest. This book provides the first complete critical edition and English translation of the Arabic version of the Planetary Hypotheses, which is partially lost in its original Greek. It furthermore provides ample commentary on the whole work, which situates the Planetary Hypotheses within the context of its time and investigates philosophical ideas central to the work. These include the epistemic value of mathematics relative to natural philosophy, and the shape, number, and dynamics of the celestial bodies. The book also investigates the influence of the Planetary Hypotheses on a wide range of medieval Arabic astronomical and philosophical works from the 9th to the 13th century AD. The upshot is to establish the Planetary Hypotheses as a crucial text for understanding the history of philosophy and science from Greek antiquity to the Arabic Middle Ages.

Ptolemy's Almagest

Ptolemy's Almagest PDF

Author: Ptolemy

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 1998-11-08

Total Pages: 712

ISBN-13: 0691002606

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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.

A History of Arabic Astronomy

A History of Arabic Astronomy PDF

Author: George Saliba

Publisher: NYU Press

Published: 1995-07-01

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 0814738893

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A History of Arabic Astronomy is a comprehensive survey of Arabic planetary theories from the eleventh century to the fifteenth century based on recent manuscript discoveries. George Saliba argues that the medieval period, often called a period of decline in Islamic intellectual history, was scientifically speaking, a very productive period in which astronomical theories of the highest order were produced. Based on the most recent manuscript discoveries, this book broadly surveys developments in Arabic planetary theories from the eleventh century to the fifteenth. Taken together, the primary texts and essays assembled in this book reverse traditional beliefs about the rise and fall of Arabic science, demonstrating how the traditional “age of decline” in Arabic science was indeed a “Golden Age” as far as astronomy was concerned. Some of the techniques and mathematical theorems developed during this period were identical to those which were employed by Copernicus in developing his own non-Ptolemaic astronomy. Significantly, this volume will shed much-needed light on the conditions under which such theories were developed in medieval Islam. It clearly demonstrates the distinction that was drawn between astronomical activities and astrological ones, and reveals, contrary to common perceptions about medieval Islam, the accommodation that was obviously reached between religion and astronomy, and the degree to which astronomical planetary theories were supported, and at times even financed, by the religious community itself. This in stark contrast to the systematic attacks leveled by the same religious community against astrology. To students of European intellectual history, the book reveals the technical relationship between the astronomy of the Arabs and that of Copernicus. Saliba’s definitive work will be of particular interest to historians of Arabic science as well as to historians of medieval and Renaissance European science.

Cosmology

Cosmology PDF

Author: Norriss S. Hetherington

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2023-05-31

Total Pages: 645

ISBN-13: 1000944514

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This book is a collection of contributions examining cosmology from multiple perspectives. It presents articles on traditional Native American and Chinese cosmologies and traces the historical roots of western cosmology from Mesopotamia and pre-Socratic Greece to medieval cosmology.

On the Heavens

On the Heavens PDF

Author: Aristotle

Publisher: Phoemixx Classics Ebooks

Published: 2021-11-14

Total Pages: 155

ISBN-13: 3986772901

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On the Heavens Aristotle - On the Heavens is Aristotle's chief cosmological treatise: written in 350 BC it contains his astronomical theory and his ideas on the concrete workings of the terrestrial world. This work is significant as one of the defining pillars of the Aristotelian worldview, a school of philosophy that dominated intellectual thinking for almost two millennia. Similarly, this work and others by Aristotle were important seminal works by which much of scholasticism was derived.

An Islamic Response to Greek Astronomy

An Islamic Response to Greek Astronomy PDF

Author: ʻUbayd Allāh ibn Masʻūd Maḥbūbī

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 480

ISBN-13: 9789004099685

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This study provides a detailed description of ways in which Muslim astronomers handled the Greek astronomical legacy, reassessed its cultural and philosophical implications in light of their religiously-inspired world view, and proposed to modify it.

Alphanumeric Cosmology From Greek into Arabic

Alphanumeric Cosmology From Greek into Arabic PDF

Author: Juan Acevedo

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

Published: 2020-07-07

Total Pages: 351

ISBN-13: 316159245X

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Juan Acevedo embarks on a semantic journey to track the origin and adventures of the Greek term stoicheion, which for at least eighteen centuries, from Pythagoras to Fibonacci, simultaneously meant "element", "letter", and "numeral". Focusing on this triple meaning and on how it was translated and interpreted in Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic - especially in key texts of the Abrahamic faiths- a metaphysical study takes shape. With touches of alchemy and theology, it reveals how a shared fundamental alphanumeric cosmology underlay many basic paradigms of science and faith around the Mediterranean until the advent of the Indo-Arabic numerals broke the "marriage" of letter and numeral. Careful readings of Plato, Philolaos, Nicomachus and Philo, of Genesis and the Sefer Yetsira, of the Qur'an, the Ikhwan al-Safa', and Ibn 'Arabi are all woven together into a synthesis full of implications for many disciplines.

Jaghmīnī’s Mulakhkhaṣ

Jaghmīnī’s Mulakhkhaṣ PDF

Author: Sally P. Ragep

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-01-20

Total Pages: 354

ISBN-13: 3319319930

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This book provides the only critical edition and English translation of Maḥmūd al-Jaghmīnī’s al-Mulakhkhaṣ fī al-hayʾa al-basīṭa, the most widely circulated Arabic treatise on Ptolemaic astronomy ever written. Composed in the early 13th century, this introductory textbook played a crucial role in the teaching, dissemination, and institutional instruction of Islamic astronomy well into the 19th century (and beyond). Establishing the base text is a fundamental prerequisite for gaining insights into what was considered an elementary astronomical textbook in Islam and also for understanding the extensive commentary tradition that built upon it. Within this volume, the Mulakhkhaṣ is situated within the broader context of the genre of literature termed ʿilm al-hayʾa, which has become the subject of intensive research over the past 25 years. In so doing, it provides a survey of summary accounts of theoretical astronomy of Jaghmīnī’s predecessors, both Ancient and Islamic, which could have served as potential sources for the Mulakhkhaṣ. Jaghmīnī’s dates (which until now remained unsettled) are established, and it is definitively shown that he composed not only the Mulakhkhaṣ but also other scientific treatises, including the popular medical treatise al-Qānūnča, during a period that has been deemed one of scientific decline and stagnation in Islamic lands. The book will be of particular interest to scholars engaged in the study of Islamic theoretical astronomy, but is accessible to a general readership interested in learning what constituted an introduction to Ptolemaic astronomy in Islamic lands.

Stephen of Pisa and Antioch: Liber Mamonis

Stephen of Pisa and Antioch: Liber Mamonis PDF

Author: Dirk Grupe

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2019-10-21

Total Pages: 439

ISBN-13: 3030192342

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This volume aims to make Stephen of Pisa and Antioch’s work on the celestial sciences accessible to a wider readership, providing not just the text but a translation and introduction as well. The edition is based on the only known manuscript of the Liber Mamonis, MS Cambrai, Médiathèque d’Agglomération, A 930. It is split into two parts: the first provides an extensive introduction to Stephen and his work, while the second features the edition and translation. A comprehensive glossary and collection of photographs of plates are also included.