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Ptolemy

Also known as Claudius Ptolemaeus, Claudius Ptolemeus, Claudius Ptolemy, Klaudios Ptolemaios

Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD), better known mononymously as Ptolemy, was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine, Islamic, and Western European science. The first was his astronomical treatise now known as the Almagest, originally entitled '''' (, 'Mathematical Treatise'). The second is the Geography, which is a thorough discussion on maps and the geographic knowledge of the Greco-Roman world. The third is the astrological treatise in which he a

OverviewAI-generated

Ptolemy, whose native name was Κλαύδιος Πτολεμαῖος, was a male figure of the Roman Empire who worked in astrology, mathematics, mechanics, and optics. Born in Ptolemais Hermiou around 100 CE, he was a citizen of Ancient Rome and resided in Alexandria, where he was employed by the Library of Alexandria. He wrote in Ancient Greek and was influenced by Aristotle.

His notable works include the Almagest, Geography, Ptolemy's table of chords, and Ptolemy's inequality. Additional works attributed to him are Cosmographia, Liber Quadripartiti Ptholomei, Opus geographię noviter castigatū & emaculatū additiōbus raris et invisis, Geōgraphikē hyphēgēsis, and Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos, or Quadripartite. His writings appear in The Divine Comedy, and he is described by sources such as the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary and the Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition.

Synthesized by Vinony from 37 facts across 8 sources: Wikidata, Crossref, Open Library, MusicBrainz, Last.fm, Wikiquote, Europeana Sparql, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Born: 2nd cent.
Died: ca.178
Works: 131

Top works

Cosmographia
Liber Quadripartiti Ptholomei ...
Opus geographię noviter castigatū & emaculatū additiōbus raris et invisis
Geōgraphikē hyphēgēsis / Klaudios Ptolemaios = Geographia / Claudius Ptolemaeus
Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos, or Quadripartite

via Open Library + Wikidata

Music · MusicBrainz

Type: Character

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners: 173
Total plays: 788

Recent publications · Crossref

5 total works indexed

Whey Protein Supplementation During Resistance Training Augments Lean Body Mass
· 2013 · cited 144x
Integrative Metabolomics for Characterizing Unknown Low-Abundance Metabolites by Capillary Electrophoresis-Mass Spectrometry with Computer Simulations
· 2006 · cited 92x
What is a biomarker? Research investments and lack of clinical integration necessitate a review of biomarker terminology and validation schema
· 2010 · cited 78x
Quantification of theobromine and caffeine in saliva, plasma and urine via liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry: A single analytical protocol applicable to cocoa intervention studies
· 2010 · cited 77x
The Riddle of Protein Diagnostics: Future Bleak or Bright?
· 2013 · cited 65x

via Crossref · CC0

Quotes

“I know that I am mortal by nature and ephemeral, but when I trace at my pleasure the windings to and fro of the heavenly bodies, I no longer touch earth with my feet. I stand in the presence of Zeus himself and take my fill of ambrosia.”
“We consider it a good principle to explain the phenomena by the simplest hypothesis possible.”
“πᾶν μὲν τὸ δυσέφικτον παρὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς εὐδιάβλητον ἔχει φύσιν”
“The length of lifetakes the leading place among inquiries about events following birth.”
“As material fortune is associated with the properties of the body, so honor belongs to those of the soul.”
“There are three classes of friendship and enmity, since men are so disposed to one another either by preference or by need or through pleasure and pain.”

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

Key facts

Scientist.name: Ptolemy
Scientist.native_name: Κλαύδιος Πτολεμαῖος
Scientist.image: Ptolemy 1476 with armillary sphere model.jpg
Scientist.caption: Portrait of Ptolemy by Justus van Gent or Pedro Berruguete (1476)
Scientist.birth_date: AD 100
Scientist.birth_place: Unknown
Scientist.death_date: 160s/170s
Scientist.death_place: Alexandria, Egypt, Roman Empire
Scientist.citizenship: possibly Roman

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of: human
Gender: male
Citizenship: Ancient Rome
Place of birth: Ptolemais Hermiou
Place of death: Canopus
Occupation: writer
Employer: Library of Alexandria
Languages spoken: Ancient Greek
Field of work: music theory
Image: Claudio Ptolomeo.png
Residence: Alexandria

Show 19 more facts

topic's main category: Category:Ptolemy
Commons gallery: Κλαύδιος Πτολεμαῖος
date of birth: 0085-00-00
date of death: 0165-00-00
Commons Creator page: Ptolemy
described by source: Pauly–Wissowa
influenced by: Aristotle
time period: Roman Empire
name in native language: Κλαύδιος Πτολεμαῖος
gens: Claudia gens
writing language: Ancient Greek
present in work: The Divine Comedy
has works in the collection: Het Scheepvaartmuseum
maintained by WikiProject: WikiProject Mathematics
birth name: Κλαύδιος Πτολεμαῖος
P12749: Hanna Maron
P13311: Derval
P8168: strawberry gallbladder
Commons category: Ptolemy

Sources (6)

via Wikidata · CC0

Works in European collections

36 objects attributed to Ptolemy, held across European museums, libraries & archives · via Europeana

Ptolemaei magna

Ptolemaei Geographia

Claudius Ptolemaeus de sympragmatice ad Syrum

Ptolemaei De suppositionibus secundum errantes stellas

Ptolemaei

Theonis Expositio magnae Exis Ptolemaei

Claudii Ptolemaei Mathematica constructio

Ptolemaei tabulae

Claudii Ptolemaei Geographica

Ptolemaei Apotelesmata

Ptolemaei Geographia

Geographiae Ptolemaei lib. XI

Ptolemaei Geographica narratio

Guilielmi Blaeu Institutio Astronomica De usu Globorum & Sphaerarum Caelestium ac Terrestrium : Duabus partibus adornata, Una, secundum hypothesin Ptolemaei per terram quiescentem. Altera, juxta mentem N. Copernici per terram mobile... [Texto impreso]

Geografia Cioè Descrittione Uniuersale della Terra : Partita in due volumi, nel primo de’quali si contengono gli Otto Libri della Geografia

Procli Sphaera. Ptolemaei de Hypothesibus Planetarum liber singularis, nunc primum in lucem editus. Cuis accessit ejusdem Ptolemaei Canon Regnorum. Utrumque librum ex codicum M.S. collatione summa diligentia restituit, Latine reddidit, et Figuris illustravit Ioh. Bainbridge Med. Doctor, et Astronomiae in celeberrima Oxoniensi Academia Professor [Texto impreso]

Untitled

~32 min read

Encyclopedic overview

24 sections

Contents

Biography
Naming and nationality
Astronomical writings
''Mathēmatikē Syntaxis''
Modern reassessment
''Handy Tables''
''Planetary Hypotheses''
Other astronomical works
Other writings
''Geography''
''Tetrabiblos''
''Harmonics''
Optics
Philosophy
Named after Ptolemy
See also
Notes
Footnotes
Citations
Bibliography
Works of Ptolemy
References
Further reading
External links

The Catholic Church promoted his work, which included the only mathematically sound geocentric model of the Solar System, and unlike most Greek mathematicians, Ptolemy's writings (foremost the Almagest) never ceased to be copied or commented upon, both in late antiquity and in the Middle Ages. However, it is likely that only a few truly mastered the mathematics necessary to understand his works, as evidenced particularly by the many abridged and watered-down introductions to Ptolemy's astronomy that were popular among the Arabs and Byzantines. His work on epicycles is now seen as a very complex theoretical model built in order to explain a false tenet based on faith.

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