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The Philosophy of Ptolemy in Greek, Arabic and Hebrew Contexts
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Ptolemy (d. ca 170) was perhaps the most famous theoretician of celestial science of his time, up to the Renaissance. Yet al-Kindī (d. ca 870), who was the first philosopher to write in Arabic, seems to have considered him to be a philosopher as well. According to him, the preface to the Almagest “touches upon the noblest topics of philosophy”. But how did Ptolemy see himself? And how do later writers, whether in late antiquity or the Islamicate world, interpret his project? This is the framework within which the chapters of this volume unfold, illuminating Ptolemaic philosophy and its reception, a subject that has remained understudied until very recently. It is supplemented by editions and translations of key texts at issue in Greek and Arabic.
Alan C. Bowen, Director of the Institute for Research in Classical Philosophy and Science, is a historian of Greco-Latin science and philosophy. His books include Cleomedes’ Lectures on Astronomy (UC Press, 2004) with Robert B. Todd, New Perspectives on Aristotle’s De caelo (Brill 2009) with Christian Wildberg, Simplicius on the Planets and Their Motions: In Defense of a Heresy (Brill 2013), and Hellenistic Astronomy: The Science in Its Contexts (Brill 2020) with Francesca Rochberg.
Emma Gannagé, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy at the American University of Beirut. Her research interests include Graeco-Arabic and Islamic philosophy and medicine. Among her publications: Alexander of Aphrodisias, On Aristotle On Coming-to-Be and Perishing 2.2-5 (2nd ed. Bloomsbury 2014); Philosophy, Sciences and Theology in the Islamicate World of the Ninth Century, Mélanges de l’Université Saint-Joseph 69 (2021-22), with E. Wakelnig and P. Koetschet.
Emma Gannagé, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy at the American University of Beirut. Her research interests include Graeco-Arabic and Islamic philosophy and medicine. Among her publications: Alexander of Aphrodisias, On Aristotle On Coming-to-Be and Perishing 2.2-5 (2nd ed. Bloomsbury 2014); Philosophy, Sciences and Theology in the Islamicate World of the Ninth Century, Mélanges de l’Université Saint-Joseph 69 (2021-22), with E. Wakelnig and P. Koetschet.
Acknowledgments
List of Figures
Notes on Contributors
Introduction
Alan C. Bowen and Emma Gannagé
1 The Preface to Ptolemy’s Almagest
Alan C. Bowen
2 The Epistemic Worth of Ἀστρονομία according to Ptolemy
Alan C. Bowen
3 Claims of Originality and Innovation in Ptolemy’s Almagest
Alexander Jones
4 The Principles of Ptolemy’s Philosophy of Science
Jacqueline Feke
5 The Byzantine Reception of Ptolemy’s Almagest between the Seventh and the Ninth Centuries
Maria Mavroudi
6 The Complex Arabic Reception of Ptolemy’s Almagest
George Saliba
7 Mathematics as a Path to Human Perfection: Al-Kindī’s Prologue to On the Great Art
Emma Gannagé
8 The Reception of Ptolemy’s Theory of the Psychic Powers of the Planets in Arabic Philosophy: Some Key Sources and Problems
Damien Janos
9 Praise and Critique of a Giant on Whose Shoulders One Stands: Levi Gersonides (1288–1344) on Claudius Ptolemy
Gad Freudenthal
10 Ptolemy, Almagest 1.1: An Annotated Translation of Heiberg 1898–1903, 1.4.6–8.16
Alan C. Bowen
11 Theon, In Almagestum 1.1: An Annotated Translation of Rome 1936–1943, 317.1–325.17
Alan C. Bowen
12 The Marginalia to MS Vat. Gr. 1594 (Collated with MS Marc. Gr. Z313 and MS Vat. Gr. 180): Transcription, Translation, and Comments
Maria Mavroudi
13 Yaʿqūb b. Isḥāq al-Kindī, On the Great Art (Fī l-ṣināʿa al-ʿuẓmā)
Chapter 1: Critical Edition and Annotated Translation
Emma Gannagé
14 Ptolemy, Alm. 1.1: Three Witnesses of al-Ḥajjāj b. Yūsuf b. Maṭar’s and Sarjūn b. Hilyā’s Version
Emma Gannagé
15 Greek and Arabic Texts on the Psychic Powers of the Planets
Damien Janos
Bibliography
Index
List of Figures
Notes on Contributors
Introduction
Alan C. Bowen and Emma Gannagé
Part 1 Studies
1 The Preface to Ptolemy’s Almagest
Alan C. Bowen
2 The Epistemic Worth of Ἀστρονομία according to Ptolemy
Alan C. Bowen
3 Claims of Originality and Innovation in Ptolemy’s Almagest
Alexander Jones
4 The Principles of Ptolemy’s Philosophy of Science
Jacqueline Feke
5 The Byzantine Reception of Ptolemy’s Almagest between the Seventh and the Ninth Centuries
Maria Mavroudi
6 The Complex Arabic Reception of Ptolemy’s Almagest
George Saliba
7 Mathematics as a Path to Human Perfection: Al-Kindī’s Prologue to On the Great Art
Emma Gannagé
8 The Reception of Ptolemy’s Theory of the Psychic Powers of the Planets in Arabic Philosophy: Some Key Sources and Problems
Damien Janos
9 Praise and Critique of a Giant on Whose Shoulders One Stands: Levi Gersonides (1288–1344) on Claudius Ptolemy
Gad Freudenthal
Part 2 Sources
10 Ptolemy, Almagest 1.1: An Annotated Translation of Heiberg 1898–1903, 1.4.6–8.16
Alan C. Bowen
11 Theon, In Almagestum 1.1: An Annotated Translation of Rome 1936–1943, 317.1–325.17
Alan C. Bowen
12 The Marginalia to MS Vat. Gr. 1594 (Collated with MS Marc. Gr. Z313 and MS Vat. Gr. 180): Transcription, Translation, and Comments
Maria Mavroudi
13 Yaʿqūb b. Isḥāq al-Kindī, On the Great Art (Fī l-ṣināʿa al-ʿuẓmā)
Chapter 1: Critical Edition and Annotated Translation
Emma Gannagé
14 Ptolemy, Alm. 1.1: Three Witnesses of al-Ḥajjāj b. Yūsuf b. Maṭar’s and Sarjūn b. Hilyā’s Version
Emma Gannagé
15 Greek and Arabic Texts on the Psychic Powers of the Planets
Damien Janos
Bibliography
Index
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