Eratosthenes

Also known as Eratosthenes of Cyrene, Eρατοσθένης

Eratosthenes of Cyrene ( ; ;  – ) was an Ancient Greek polymath: a philosopher, scholar, mathematician, geographer, poet, astronomer, and music theorist. Eratosthenes eventually became the chief librarian at the Library of Alexandria. His work was the precursor to the modern discipline of geography, and he introduced some of its terminology, coining the terms geography and geographer.

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Eratosthenes (Ἐρατοσθένης) was a male mathematician, astronomer, poet, and librarian of the Hellenistic period. Born in Cyrene around 276 BCE, he spoke and wrote in Ancient Greek. He studied under Ariston of Chios, Zeno of Citium, Arcesilaus, and Callimachus. His fields of work included geometry, number theory, and geography. He was employed by the Library of Alexandria and taught Ptolemy IV Philopator.

His notable work is the sieve of Eratosthenes. He died in Alexandria around 194 BCE. His name in his native language is Ἐρατοσθένης ὁ Κυρηναῖος. He is described in sources such as the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary and the Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition. Other works attributed to him include Eratosthenis Geographicorum fragmenta and Eratosthenis Catasterismi.

Synthesized by Vinony from 26 facts across 4 sources: Wikidata, Open Library, Last.fm, Europeana Sparql. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Born: c. 276 BC
Died: c. 194 BC
Works: 21

Top works

Eratosthenis Geographicorum fragmenta
Eratosthenes Batavus De terræ ambitus vera quantitate
Eratosthenis Catasterismi
Mythographi graeci ...
Mythographi graeci

via Open Library + Wikidata

Music · MusicBrainz

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners: 14
Total plays: 251

Key facts

Person.name: Eratosthenes
Person.image: Portrait of Eratosthenes.png
Person.image_upright: 0.9
Person.caption: Eratosthenes
Person.birth_date: 276 BC
Person.birth_place: Cyrene (in modern Libya)
Person.death_date: 194 BC (around age 82)
Person.death_place: Alexandria

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of: human
Gender: male
Place of birth: Apollonia
Place of death: Alexandria
Occupation: philosopher
Employer: Library of Alexandria
Languages spoken: Ancient Greek
Field of work: geography
Image: Eratosthenes.jpg

Show 13 more facts

Commons category: Eratosthenes
date of birth: 0276-00-00
date of death: 0196-00-00
student: Ptolemy IV Philopator
described by source: Pauly–Wissowa
time period: Hellenistic period
name in native language: Ἐρατοσθένης ὁ Κυρηναῖος
writing language: Ancient Greek
Commons Creator page: Eratosthenes
on focus list of Wikimedia project: Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/4
maintained by WikiProject: WikiProject Mathematics
birth name: Ἐρατοσθένης
significant place: Cyrene

Sources (3)

via Wikidata · CC0

Works in European collections

10 objects attributed to Eratosthenes, held across European museums, libraries & archives · via Europeana

Eratosthenis Geographicorvm Fragmenta

Eratosthenis Catasterismi :Cum Interpretatione Latina Et Commentario

Eratosthenis Carminvm Reliqviae

Eratosthenis Catasterismi : cum interpretatione Latina et commentario

Vranologion Sive Systema Variorvm Avthorvm, Qvi De Sphæra, Ac Sideribvs, Eorvmqve Motibvs Graecè commentati sunt. Sunt autem horum libri. Gemini, Achillis Tatij Isagoge ad Arati Phænomena. Hipparchi libri tres, ad Aratum. Ptolemæi de apparentiis. Theodori Gazæ de Mensibus. Maximi Isaaci Argyri duplex, S. Andreæ Cretensis Computi. Omnia vel Graecè ac Latinè nunc primùm edita, vel antè non edita. Cura & studio Dionysii Petavii Aurelianensis è Societate Iesv. ... Accesserunt Variarum dissertationum libri octo, ad authores illos intelligendos imprimis vtiles, eodem authore

Aratou Soleos Phainomena ... Et Germanici Caesaris Phaenomena. Les Phénomenes, D' Aratus De Soles, Et De Germanicus Cèsar ... Avec Les Scholies De Théon, Les Catastérismes D'Ératosthène Et La Sphére De Leontius, ... Traduits ... Par M. L'Abbé Halma

Untitled

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Encyclopedic overview

17 sections

Contents

Life
Contributions
Astronomy
Measurement of Earth's circumference{{anchor|Earth's circumference|Arc measurement}}
Sun measurements
Obliquity of the ecliptic
Geography
Mathematics, music theory and metaphysics
Works
Athenian period
Alexandrian period
Additional works
See also
Notes
References
Further reading
External links

He is best remembered as the first known person to calculate the Earth's circumference. He was also the first to calculate Earth's axial tilt, which similarly proved to have remarkable accuracy. He created the first global projection of the world incorporating parallels and meridians based on the geographic knowledge of his era. Eratosthenes was the founder of scientific chronology; he used Egyptian and Persian records to estimate the dates of the main events of the Trojan War, dating the sack of Troy to 1184 BC. In number theory, he introduced the sieve of Eratosthenes, an efficient method of identifying prime numbers and composite numbers.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Eratosthenes” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.