Investigations of the coordinates in Ptolemy's \textit{Geographike hyphegesis} Book 8

DOI10.1007/S00407-012-0102-0zbMATH Open1254.01011arXiv1503.01037OpenAlexW3099645523MaRDI QIDQ715166FDOQ715166

Christian Marx

Publication date: 2 November 2012

Published in: Archive for History of Exact Sciences (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: In Book 8 of his Geographike Hyphegesis Ptolemy gives coordinates for ca. 360 so-called noteworthy cities. These coordinates are the time difference to Alexandria, the length of the longest day, and partly the ecliptic distance from the summer solstice. The supposable original conversions between the coordinates in Book 8 and the geographical coordinates in the location catalogue of Books 2-7 including the underlying parameters and tabulations are here reconstructed. The results document the differences between the $Omega$- and $Xi$-recension. The known difference in the longitude of Alexandria underlying the conversion of the longitudes is examined more closely. For the ecliptic distances from the summer solstice of the $Omega$-recension it is revealed that they were originally computed by means of a so far undiscovered approximate, linear conversion. Further it is shown that the lengths of the longest day could be based on a linear interpolation of the data in the Mathematike Syntaxis 2.6.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1503.01037

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zbMATH Keywords

\textit{Geography}Book 8location catalogueresolution of coordinates

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

History of Greek and Roman mathematics (01A20) History of astronomy and astrophysics (85-03)

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Cited In (4)

• The hunt for the lost cities of Ptolemy
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• Title not available (Why is that?)
• Title not available (Why is that?)

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