Ptolemy

Claudius Ptolemaeus (c. 85 c. 165), known as Ptolemy, was the most renowned astronomer and geographer of the ancient world. His expertise also extended to the fields of optics, astrology, physics, mathematics, and m sic. His !ook, which came to !e called the Almagest (from the "ra!ic for the #$reatest%), was the most important astronomical compendi m ntil the 16th cent ry. He originally named it Mathematical Syntaxis, which means #the mathematical collection.% &e'eloped aro nd 15( ".&., his system, !ased on an )arth*centered ni'erse (the Ptolemaic system), pre'ailed for 1+(( years ntil ,opernic s, -epler and $alileo showed that the s n and not the earth m st !e regarded as the center of the solar system. .tolemy also compiled a Geographia, a catalog e of places on the )arth together with their longit de and latit de. His depiction of "sia extending m ch too far east and his too small estimate for the circ mference of the )arth enco raged ,hristopher ,ol m! s in his westward expedition across the "tlantic /cean seeking a 0 icker ro te to 1ndia.

2he .tolemaic dynasty esta!lished two great instit tions in "lexandria, the 3i!rary and the 4 se m. 1t was not a m se m, as we know it, ! t rather the prototype of a research ni'ersity. 5hile he clearly made extensi'e se of the 3i!rary, .tolemy (no relation to the dynasty) most likely #worked% in the great 4 se m. .tolemy6s name came from his !irthplace. 4 ch of the contents of the Almagest may !e ascri!ed to the lost works of Hipparch s, who sho ld also !e credited with the method of determining latit de and longit de sed in the Geographia. .tolemy acknowledged his de!t to earlier in'estigators, rging those who wo ld nderstand the diffic lties of the 0 estions considered to read the !ooks of the

ancients, especially those of Hipparch s, whom he praised as #a lo'er of la!or and a lo'er of tr th.% .tolemy sed geometric models to predict the positions of the s n, moon, and planets, sing com!inations of some 8( circ lar motions known as epicycles. He ta ght that the fi'e then known planets and 7 n or!ited the )arth in the order 4erc ry, 8en s, 7 n, 4ars, 9 piter, and 7at rn :;ig re 11.6a<. "ltho gh !ased on naked*eye o!ser'ations, his system predicted the positions of the planets fairly acc rately. 2he Almagest contained ta!les needed for astronomical calc lations, as well as a star catalog e of 1(=8 stars in +8 constellations, whose names are still sed today.

.tolemy introd ced 'ery few new mathematical techni0 es, ! t modified existing ones to s it his needs. 1n his system a planet mo'es on perfect circles, ! t not at niform speed. He introd ced a geometric de'ice that he called an equant point aro nd which the planet mo'es at a steady ang lar speed. $i'en any ellipse, we can draw its eccentric circle !y constr cting the circle that has the same center as the ellipse and has a radi s e0 al to the semi*ma>or axis of the ellipse :;ig re 11.6!<. 2hat is, the eccentric circle circ mscri!es the gi'en ellipse. 2he e0 ant point (Q) is located on the line connecting the earth (E) with the center of the planet6s eccentric circle (C), s ch that QC = CE :;ig re 11.6<. ;rom the e0 ant point there is the ill sion that the motion of the or!iting planet is at a steady speed.

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.tolemy did not intend to de'elop a new theory of cosmology. 1nstead, he did what he co ld to re* esta!lish "ristotle6s claims for a geocentric ni'erse. .tolemy arg ed that since all !odies fall to the center of the ni'erse, the )arth m st !e fixed at the center? otherwise falling o!>ects wo ldn6t !e seen to drop toward the center of the )arth. He !elie'ed that the )arth is stationary? otherwise, a !ody

thrown 'ertically pward wo ld not fall !ack to the same place, as in fact it does. 2his constit ted his proof of the )arth as the center of the ni'erse. He introd ced the notion of deferents, large or!its a!o t the )arth that the planets followed while circ lating in their own epicycles located on the deferent or!it. .tolemy wrote that@ #the first order of ! siness is to grasp the relationship of the earth taken as a whole to the hea'ens taken as a whole.% He reported that the hea'en is spherical in shape and mo'es spherically. 3ikewise, when taken as a whole, the )arth is sensi!ly spherical in shape and is the middle of the hea'ens. 2he )arth has the ratio of a point relati'e to the siAe of the hea'ens and it has no motion from place to place. He added that there are two different primary motions in the hea'ens@ the first is the daily motion, which #carries e'erything from east to west%? the second is the motion of the s n, moon and fi'e planets along the ecliptic from west to east. His config ration was s rprisingly ade0 ate mathematically, despite !eing !ased on an erroneo s model of the ni'erse.

.tolemy can6t !e held acco nta!le for the res lts of his theories !eing accorded almost di'ine a thority when they re*entered ,hristian ) rope in the 1=th and 1Bth cent ry in 3atin translations of "ra!ic works. 2hey were so re'ered that to challenge their erroneo s prono ncements a!o t the ni'erse and the geocentric theory of the cosmos was to find oneself s !>ect to cens re, excomm nication and worse. .tolemy6s geocentric system represented the !est science of his day, ! t 7t. 2homas "0 inas did s ch a remarka!le >o! of incorporating it into ,hristian theology, that lesser thinkers concl ded that ,hristian doctrine re0 ired that .tolemy6s models !e taken as the definiti'e explanation of the workings of the ni'erse. 1t re0 ired considera!le daring to propose other explanations. )'en with the in'ention of the telescope, which made the errors of the .tolemaic system apparent to those who wo ld look thro gh it to the hea'ens? it was defended 'igoro sly as if it was gospel. Ce'ertheless it wo ld !e an in> stice not to honor .tolemy for his accomplishments. "ltho gh his scientific explanations of the ni'erse ha'e !een s perseded !y others this doesn6t detract from his !rilliance as a scholar and scientist.

.tolemy is cele!rated as a geographer as well as an astronomer. 1n Geographia, he attempted to map the known world !y assigning coordinates to ma>or places in terms of longit de and latit de. He disc ssed the known continents at that time, "frica, "sia and ) rope, ! t the work did not extend !elow the e0 ator. His =6 color regional maps and single world map were often inacc rate d e to the 'ag e reports from tra'eling merchants and Doman officials. .tolemy6s estimates of the siAe of the known world were ro ghly +,58( miles from north to so th and 8,=5( miles from west to east. 5hile his map of $reece and the "egean was rich in detail and elegantly exec ted, he nderestimated the siAe of the oceans and o'erestimated the landmass from 7pain to ,hina. &espite their errors his maps were far s perior to those drawn in the &ark "ges of ) rope. 1t was from .tolemy6s redisco'ered works that Denaissance mapmakers learned their craft, witho t which the na'igations of the fifteenth and s !se0 ent cent ries co ld not ha'e taken place.

Quotation of the Day: #.tolemy E f lly realiAed that his theory :of planetary motion< was > st a
con'enient mathematical description which fit the o!ser'ations and was not necessarily the tr e design of nat re. ;or some planets he had a choice of alternate schemes and he chose the mathematically simpler one. .tolemy says in Fook G111 of his Almagest that in astronomy one o ght to seek as simple a mathematical model as possi!le. F t .tolemy6s mathematical model was recei'ed as the tr th !y the ,hristian world.% 4orris -line