Frontispiece of Regiomontanus' "Epitome of the Almagest" depicting Ptolemy and Regiomontanus sitting beneath an armillary sphere. Claudius Ptolemy (90-168 AD), was a Greek-Roman citizen of Egypt (Claudius is a Roman name and Ptolemaeus is a Greek name). H
Frontispiece of Regiomontanus' "Epitome of the Almagest" depicting Ptolemy and Regiomontanus sitting beneath an armillary sphere. Claudius Ptolemy (90-168 AD), was a Greek-Roman citizen of Egypt (Claudius is a Roman name and Ptolemaeus is a Greek name). He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. Ptolemy was the author of several scientific treatises. His astronomical treatise, the Almagest, is the only surviving comprehensive ancient treatise on astronomy. Ptolemy's other main work is his Geographia, a compilation of what was known about the world's geography in the Roman Empire during his time. His astrological treatise, a work in four parts, is known by the Greek term Tetrabiblos, or the Latin equivalent Quadripartitum: Four Books in which he attempted to adapt horoscopic astrology to the Aristotelian natural philosophy of his day. It was used and consulted for over 1000 years. Ptolemy also wrote an influential work, Harmonics, on music theory and the mathematics of music. Few details of Ptolemy's private life are known for certain. Johannes Muller von Konigsberg (June 6, 1436 - July 6 1476) today best known as Regiomontanus, was a German mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, translator, instrument maker and Catholic bishop. He was a pupil and friend of Georg von Peurbach. Purbach began to prepare a summary and commentary on the Almagest. He died after completing only six books, however, and Regiomontanus continued the task. When it was published in 1496, the Epitome of the Almagest made the highest levels of Ptolemaic astronomy widely accessible to many European astronomers for the first time. In 1475 he went to Rome to work with Pope Sixtus IV on calendar reform. He died of unknown causes in 1476 at the age of 40. According to a rumor he was assassinated by relatives of George of Trebizond whom he had criticized in his writings. More likely he died in an epidemic raging in Rome at the time.
Size: 3000px × 4899px
Photo credit: © Photo Researchers / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: -, 15th, 1st, 2nd, ages, almagest, almagest:, aristotelian, armillary, art, artwork, astrologer, astrology, astronomer, astronomical, astronomy, author, bw, century, citizen, claudius, cosmography, cosmological, cosmologist, cosmology, cosmos, de, der, drawing, egypt, epitome, famous, figure, frontispiece, geocentric, geographer, greek, greek-roman, harmonics, historic, historical, history, horoscopic, illustration, important, joannes, johannes, konigsberg, konigsberger, male, man, mathematician, mathematics, medieval, men, middle, monte, muller, natural, notable, people, person, personalities, personality, philosophy, poet, polymath, ptolemaeus, ptolemaic, ptolemy, regio, regiomontanus, roman, science, sphere, thinker, translation, translator, universe, von, writer
