Ptolemy as a Philosopher and Astrologer

Abstract

IT is somewhat strange that in the article on Ptolemy in the “Penny Cyclopædia,” he is spoken of only as a geographer. His fame is undoubtedly built upon his two great works on astronomy and geography. But the present publication treats of him rather as a philosopher, and discusses also the genuineness or otherwise of the less-known works of the great Alexandrian. A few lines are devoted to his life, of which scarcely anything is known. Dr. Boll sees no reason for calling in question the statement of Theodorus Meliteniota, that he was born at Ptolemais Hermii, in Upper Egypt. He lived to his seventy-eighth year, and died in the reign of Marcus Aurelius, who became emperor in A.D. 161; but it is somewhat doubtful whether the last observation referred to in the “Almagest” was made in 141, or ten years later. At any rate, it is clear that that work preceded the description of the earth's surface (written, Sir E. Bunbury remarks, much more in the spirit of an astronomer than of a ˙geographer), which remained during more than twelve centuries the paramount authority in geographical questions where physical matters were not concerned.

Studien über Claudius Ptolemäus; ein Beitrag sur Geschichte der griechischen Philosophie und Astrologie.

Von Franz Boll (Leipzig: Druck und Verlag von B. G. Teubner, 1894.