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...
Ptolemy's Almagest is one of the most influential scientific works in history. A masterpiece of technical exposition, it was the basic textb...
One of the most important surviving ancient texts on Astrology. The Earth stood fixed at the center of the universe, with crystalline spheres within spheres whirling around it. In balance, the universe had a vast influence on earthly events, which was the basis for the belief in Astrology. This explanation stood for nearly a millennium and a half, bolstered by its acceptance as orthodoxy by the Catholic Church, until Copernicus and Galileo demolished it and placed the heliocentric (sun-centered) system in its place. --Sacred Texts
One of the most important surviving ancient texts on Astrology. The Earth stood fixed at the center of the universe, with crystalline spheres within s...
OF the means of prediction through astronomy, O Syrus, two ara the most important and valid. One, which is first both in order and in effectiveness, is that whereby we apprehend the aspects of the movements of sun, moon, and stars in relation to each other and to the earth, as they occur from time to time; the second is that in which by means of the natural character of these aspects themselves we investigate the changes which they bring about in that which they surround. The first of these, which has its own science, desirable in itself even though it does not attain the result given by its...
OF the means of prediction through astronomy, O Syrus, two ara the most important and valid. One, which is first both in order and in effectiveness, i...
Claudius Ptolemy William H. Donahue Bruce M. Perry
The Almagest is by far the greatest work in astronomy in ancient times. In a massive series of thirteen books, Ptolemy shows how every detail of the motions of the sun, moon, planets, and stars can be expressed using geometrical models that can be used to compute celestial positions with remarkable accuracy The present selection covers all the essential features of Ptolemy s treatment of the heavens, omitting only more difficult and abstruse matters such as the moon s motion and the calculation of eclipses. In the interest of conciseness, development of planetary theories is restricted to two...
The Almagest is by far the greatest work in astronomy in ancient times. In a massive series of thirteen books, Ptolemy shows how every detail of the m...
