2023-08-31 16:38:38
Introduction
The Almagest (Arabization of the ancient Greek Μέγιστος, megistos meaning the greatest or the very greatest) is a work of Claudius Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolemaeus (in Greek: Κλαύδιος…) dating from the 2nd century. It constitutes the sum of the most advances of antiquity in mathematics and astronomy (Astronomy is the science of observing the stars, seeking to explain…).
The original title was Μαθηματικέ σύνταξις (Mathématikè syntaxis), Mathematical Composition. It then became Ἡ Μεγάλη Σύνταξις, The Great Composition, then Ἡ μεγίστη, The Very Great, Arabized into al-Mijisti, and later transcribed into French under the name of Almageste.
History
The model of Ptolemy is mentioned in an inscription of Canope (Canope can refer to:) of 147 or 148. It is on the basis of this that the writing of the Almagest was traditionally dated. Recently, NT Hamilton has shown that this inscription refers to a state of the model prior to that of the Almagest, which could not have been published, according to him, before 150.
The first translations into Arabic date from the 9th century. At that time, although it was still present in Byzantium, this work was lost in Western Europe (Europe is a land region that can be considered a…), where there were some vague memories of it in circles astrological. As a result, it was from the translations of the Arabic versions that Western Europe first rediscovered Ptolemy.
In the twelfth century, saw the light of day (The day or the day is the interval which separates sunrise from sunset; it is the…) a version in Spanish which will later be translated into Latin under the patronage (The Patronage is a set of associative initiatives intended to protect and…) of Emperor Frederick II.
Another version, in Latin this time and coming directly from Arabic, was produced by Gérard de Crémone from a text coming from Toledo, in Spain. He was unable to translate many technical terms – he even retained the Arabic name Abrachir for Hipparchus.
In the 15th century, a Greek version, coming from Byzantium, appeared in Western Europe and Johannes Müller, better known as Regiomontanus, made an abbreviated version of it in Latin at the instigation of Cardinal Johannes Bessarion. At the same time, a complete translation was made by Georges de Trébizonde. This version included a commentary as long as the original. This translation work, carried out under the patronage of Pope Nicholas V, was intended to supplant the old translation. This brought was a great improvement but the comment was much less appreciated and strongly criticized. The pope refused to dedicate the work and the version of Regiomontanus predominated during the century (A century is now a period of one hundred years. The word comes from the Latin saeculum, i, which…) which followed and still after.
The first critical edition was produced by Erasmus in the 16th century.
Commentaries on the Almagest were written in particular by Theon of Alexandria (Alexandria (Greek:?λεξ?νδρεια, Coptic:…) (complete), Pappus (Pappus of Alexandria lived in the 4th century AD He is one of more important…) of Alexandria (fragments) and Ammonius (lost).
Modern editions
The first edition (and last to date) with French translation is that of Abbé Nicolas Halma, published in two volumes in 1813 and 1816, reprinted in 1927 (Hermann, Paris).
In English: GJ Toomer, Ptolemy’s Almagest, Princeton University Press, 1998 (ISBN 0-691-00260-6). The most recent translation is by BM Perry, of St. John’s College, Annapolis, Maryland, USA.
Content
Image from the Latin translation by George of Trebizond (c. 1451)
Ptolemy proposes a geometric theory (The word theory comes from the Greek word theorein, which means “to contemplate, observe,…) to describe the movements of the planets, the Moon (The Moon is the only natural satellite of the Earth and the fifth largest satellite of…) and the Sun (The Sun (Sol in Latin, Helios or Ήλιος in Greek) is the star…). This theory of epicycles and the accompanying astronomical tables are a development of the work of Hipparchus. They will remain the reference for many centuries in the Western and Arab worlds. The Universe (The Universe is the set of all that exists and the laws that govern it.) is conceived as geocentric, which delivered the work to oblivion at the end of the Renaissance, when the heliocentric model of Copernicus, Kepler and Galileo (Galilée or Galileo Galilei (born in Pisa on February 15, 1564 and died in Arcetri near Florence,…) ended up imposing itself despite the reluctance of the Church.
The work consists of thirteen books:
Book I. Fundamental postulates of astronomy; theory of calculations of arcs on the sphere; trigonometric tables; measurement of the obliquity of the ecliptic; declination and right ascension tables (In astronomy, right ascension (a or α) is a term associated with the coordinate system…) for points on the ecliptic (The ecliptic is the great circle on the celestial sphere representing the annual trajectory of…). Book II. Theory of climates; oblique ascent tables; determination of temporary hours (Time is a unit of measurement:). Book III. Definition (A definition is a discourse that says what a thing is or what a name means. Hence the…) of the year (A year is a unit of time expressing the duration between two occurrences of an event related…) solar. Determination of its duration. Mean movement tables. Sun anomaly. Tables. Distinction between true time and average time. Book IV. Lunar periods, determination of mean lunar movements; the anomaly and the knots. Tables. Book V. Second (Second is the feminine of the adjective second, which comes immediately after the first or which…) anomaly or prosneuse (evection). Parallax fixes for Sun and Moon. Tables. Book VI. Apparent diameters of the Sun and the Moon. Calculation of eclipses. Tables. Book VII. Precession of the equinoxes (The precession of the equinoxes is the slow change of direction of the axis of rotation of the Earth.). Catalog of boreal stars. Book VIII. Catalog of 1,022 stars and 48 constellations. Sunrises and sunsets of fixed. Book IX. Preliminaries of the theory of the planets; Mercury. Book X. Theory of Venus and Mars. Book XI. Jupiter and Saturn theory. Book XII. Calculation of demotions, stations and maximized digressions. Book XIII. Motion of the planets in latitude; prediction of their phases of appearance and disappearance.
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