Antiquity Studies

L’astronomie dans les Harmonica de Manuel Bryenne

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Abstract

There is not much about astronomy in Manuel Bryennius’ Harmonica, but it is not unimportant to the text. In two chapters we find a discussion about the harmony of the spheres, where the author tries to establish in which direction the planets move around the earth from the planet’s mean longitudinal motion. These observations are not sufficient, hence the author uses philosophical and analogical arguments that are strongly linked to the figures associated with the text. The last figure, a diagram connecting the musical scales with the moon phases, probably does not belong to Manuel Bryennius’ Harmonica, but it is taken from one branch of the text of Ptolemy’s Harmonica. This is important for a better understanding of the history of the textual tradition of Bryennius’ Harmonica.


Open access | Peer reviewed

Submitted: Jan. 31, 2017 | Accepted: March 31, 2017 | Published Sept. 1, 2017 | Language: fr

Keywords Harmony of the spheres • Harmonica • Astronomy • Manuel Bryenne • Ptolemy • Diagram • Manuscripts • Ancient Greek Music

Copyright © 2017 Anne Weddigen. 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.

Permalink http://doi.org/10.14277/6969-165-2/ANT-13-5


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