Astronomy and Geography

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Campo DC	Valore
dc.identifier	ECF_chapter_1134
dc.contributor.author	Geus Klaus
dc.contributor.author	Tupikova Irina
dc.title	Astronomy and Geography. Some Unexplored Connections in Ptolemy
dc.type	Capitolo
dc.language.iso	en
dc.description.abstract	The authors discuss the so-called ‘zenith star method’, first mentioned in Ptolemy’s Geography (ca. AD 150), from an astronomical and historical perspective. They reach the conclusion that the exact representation in some texts, i.e. that the distance between the two points of culmination is 1°, does not in fact concern a pair of stars culminating at the zenith but only one star which is measured at an angle of 1Æ from the zenith. This peculiar condition points to a historical measurement carried out by an unknown Greek astronomer: it makes use of the fact that the bright star Pollux (β Geminorum) culminated at Alexandria with an angle distance of 1° from the zenith or (which is equivalent) culminated at the zenith over a place 1° south of Alexandria (ca. 110 km). Although a scholium to Ptolemy’s Geography claims this, the unknown author of the experiment is in all probability not Hipparchus of Nicaea.
dc.relation.ispartof	Antichistica
dc.relation.ispartof	Filologia e letteratura
dc.publisher	Edizioni Ca’ Foscari - Digital Publishing
dc.issued	2017-09-01
dc.dateAccepted	2017-03-31
dc.dateSubmitted	2017-01-13
dc.identifier.uri	http://edizionicafoscari.it/it/edizioni4/libri/978-88-7543-440-3/astronomy-and-geography/
dc.identifier.doi	10.14277/6969-165-2/ANT-13-4
dc.identifier.issn	2610-8828
dc.identifier.eissn	2610-9344
dc.identifier.isbn	978-88-7543-440-3
dc.identifier.eisbn	978-88-6969-165-2
dc.rights	Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
item.fulltext	with fulltext
item.grantfulltext	open
dc.peer-review	yes
dc.subject	Circumference of the earth
dc.subject	Circumference of the earth
dc.subject	Hipparchus
dc.subject	Hipparchus
dc.subject	Ptolemy
dc.subject	Ptolemy
dc.subject	Zenith star method
dc.subject	Zenith star method

Capitolo
open access peer reviewed

Astronomy and Geography

Some Unexplored Connections in Ptolemy

Klaus Geus Freie Universität, Berlin, Deutschland

Irina Tupikova Lohrmann Observatory, Technische Universität Dresden, Deutschland

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abstract

The authors discuss the so-called ‘zenith star method’, first mentioned in Ptolemy’s Geography (ca. AD 150), from an astronomical and historical perspective. They reach the conclusion that the exact representation in some texts, i.e. that the distance between the two points of culmination is 1°, does not in fact concern a pair of stars culminating at the zenith but only one star which is measured at an angle of 1Æ from the zenith. This peculiar condition points to a historical measurement carried out by an unknown Greek astronomer: it makes use of the fact that the bright star Pollux (β Geminorum) culminated at Alexandria with an angle distance of 1° from the zenith or (which is equivalent) culminated at the zenith over a place 1° south of Alexandria (ca. 110 km). Although a scholium to Ptolemy’s Geography claims this, the unknown author of the experiment is in all probability not Hipparchus of Nicaea.

Pubblicato

01 Settembre 2017

Accettato

31 Marzo 2017

Presentato

13 Gennaio 2017

Lingua

ISBN (PRINT)

978-88-7543-440-3

ISBN (EBOOK)

978-88-6969-165-2

Keywords: Ptolemy • Circumference of the earth • Hipparchus • Zenith star method

permalink: http://doi.org/10.14277/6969-165-2/ANT-13-4

Copyright: © 2017 Klaus Geus, Irina Tupikova. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

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