THE MYSTERIOUS KING OF ASTRONOMERS
The Almagest is a "2nd-century" Greek-language mathematical and astronomical treatise on the apparent motions of the stars and planetary paths, written by Claudius Ptolemy (c. AD 100 – c. 170). One of the most influential scientific texts of all time, it canonized a geocentric model of the Universe that was accepted for more than 1200 years from its origin in Hellenistic Alexandria, until Copernicus. It is also a key source of information about ancient Greek astronomy.
Ptolemy instructing Regiomontanus under an image of the zodiac encircling the celestial spheres. Frontispiece from Ptolemy's Almagest, (Venice, 1496).
The work was originally titled (Mathēmatikē Syntaxis) in Ancient Greek, and also called Syntaxis Mathematica or Almagestum in Latin.
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a Latin translation made in the 12th century from an Arabic translation, which would endure until original Greek copies "resurfaced" in the 15th century.
An edition in Latin of the Almagestum in 1515
Latin edition printed in 1515 at Venice by Petrus Lichtenstein
THE FIRST COMPLETE LATIN EDITION, translated from the Arabic in 1175 by Gerard of Cremona, of Ptolemy's most important astronomical and mathematical work.
The Syntaxis Mathematica consists of thirteen sections, called books.
- Book I contains an outline of Aristotle's cosmology: on the spherical form of the heavens, with the spherical Earth lying motionless as the center, with the fixed stars and the various planets revolving around the Earth. Then follows an explanation of chords with table of chords; observations of the obliquity of the ecliptic (the apparent path of the Sun through the stars); and an introduction to spherical trigonometry.
- Books VII and VIII cover the motions of the fixed stars, including precession of the equinoxes. They also contain a star catalogue of 1022 stars, described by their positions in the constellations, together with ecliptic longitude and latitude. Ptolemy states that the longitudes (which increase due to precession) are for the beginning of the reign of Antoninus Pius (138 AD), whereas the latitudes do not change with time. The brightest stars were marked first magnitude (m = 1), while the faintest visible to the naked eye were sixth magnitude (m = 6). Each numerical magnitude was considered twice the brightness of the following one, which is a logarithmic scale. (The ratio was subjective as no photodetectors existed.) This system is believed to have originated with Hipparchus. The stellar positions too are of Hipparchan origin, despite Ptolemy's claim to the contrary.
- Ptolemy identified 48 constellations: The 12 of the zodiac, 21 to the north of the zodiac, and 15 to the south.
Ptolemy's cosmos
- The celestial realm is spherical, and moves as a sphere.
- The Earth is a sphere.
- The Earth is at the center of the cosmos.
- The Earth, in relation to the distance of the fixed stars, has no appreciable size and must be treated as a mathematical point.
- The Earth does not move.
15th-century manuscript illustration of astronomy as one of the seven liberal arts, showing Ptolemy as its patron.
Ptolemy's geocentric celestial spheres; Peter Apian's Cosmographia (1539)
Ptolemy employing a quadrant, from Giordano Ziletti's Principles of astrology and geography according to Ptolemy, 1564.
15th-century map depicting Ptolemy's description of the inhabited world, (1482, Johannes Schnitzer).
Ptolemy’s catalogue was not fully superseded until the end of the 16th century when Tycho Brahe produced a thousand-star catalogue that was ten times more accurate, heralding a new era of star surveying.
Hipparchus of Nicaea c. 190 – c. 120 bc
...a Greek astronomer, geographer, and mathematician. He is considered the founder of trigonometry but is most famous for his incidental discovery of precession of the equinoxes.
Illustrated depiction of Hipparchus observing the sky from Alexandria
Hipparchus (with celestial globe), Ptolemy (holding terrestrial globe), Raphael's School of Athens
Two figures representing Astronomy and Geography.
The Greek astronomer Hipparchus (c. 190 – c. 120 BC) credited Eratosthenes (276 – 194 BC) as the inventor of the armillary sphere... Latin armilla (circle, bracelet), since it has a skeleton made of graduated metal circles linking the poles and representing the equator, the ecliptic, meridians and parallels...and representing lines of celestial longitude and latitude.
An armillary sphere, spherical astrolabe is a model of objects in the sky (on the celestial sphere), consisting of a spherical framework of rings, centred on Earthor the Sun.
...it differs from a celestial globe, which is a smooth sphere whose principal purpose is to map the constellations.
With the Earth as center, an armillary sphere is known as Ptolemaic. With the Sun as center, it is known as Copernican.
Flag of Portugal
...framework of brass rings, which represent the principal circles of the heavens.
- The equinoctial A, which is divided into 360 degrees (beginning at its intersection with the ecliptic in Aries) for showing the sun's right ascension in degrees; and also into 24 hours, for showing its right ascension in time.
- The ecliptic B, which is divided into 12 signs, and each sign into 30 degrees, and also into the months and days of the year; in such a manner, that the degree or point of the ecliptic in which the sun is, on any given day, stands over that day in the circle of months.
- The tropic of Cancer C, touching the ecliptic at the beginning of Cancer in e, and the tropic of Capricorn D, touching the ecliptic at the beginning of Capricorn in f; each 23½ degrees from the equinoctial circle.
- The Arctic Circle E, and the Antarctic Circle F, each 23½ degrees from its respective pole at N and S.
- The equinoctial colure G, passing through the north and south poles of the heaven at N and S, and through the equinoctial points Aries and Libra, in the ecliptic.
- The solstitial colure H, passing through the poles of the heaven, and through the solstitial points Cancer and Capricorn, in the ecliptic. Each quarter of the former of these colures is divided into 90 degrees, from the equinoctial to the poles of the world, for showing the declination of the sun, moon, and stars; and each quarter of the latter, from the ecliptic as eand f, to its poles b and d, for showing the latitude of the stars.
It is used to demonstrate the motion of the stars around the Earth. Before the advent of the European telescope in the 17th century, the armillary sphere was the prime instrument of all astronomers in determining celestial positions.
CONSTELLATIONS IN THE BOOK OF ENOCH
CHAPTER VIII.
1. And Azâzêl taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made known to them the metals 〈of the earth〉 and the art of working them, and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, and all colouring tinctures. 2. And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they were led astray, and became corrupt in all their ways. Semjâzâ taught enchantments, and root-cuttings, Armârôs the resolving of enchantments, Barâqîjâl,
(taught) astrology, Kôkabêl the constellations, Ezêqêêl the knowledge of the clouds, 〈Araqiêl the signs of the earth, Shamsiêl the signs of the sun〉, and Sariêl the course of the moon. And as men perished, they cried, and their cry went up to heaven . . .
Azazel, the fallen angel of the scapegoat rite
Cleromancy is a form of sortition, or selection by casting of lots, in which an outcome is determined by means that normally would be considered random, such as the rolling of dice, but are sometimes believed to reveal the will of God, or other supernatural entities.
Kokabiel, considered the 'angel of the stars', is a fallen angel, the fourth mentioned of the 20 Watcher leaders of the 200 fallen angels in the Book of Enoch. His name is generally translated as "star of God", which is fitting since it has been said that Kokabiel taught astrology to his associates.
According to The Book of The Angel Raziel, Kokabiel is a holy angel; in other apocryphal lore, however, he is generally considered to be fallen. Kokabiel is said to command an army of 365,000 spirits.
An angel (Uriel) reveals the constellations to Enoch.
1. Which are Enoch's Constellations?
Hebrew tradition is that the set of constellations was first revealed to Enoch and perhaps even earlier antediluvian prophets. Noah preserved them through the Great Deluge, and they were transmitted to Egypt by Abraham (Abr. 1:31, 3:15). The Greek scientist Eudoxus received a detailed map of them about 400 BC on a celestial sphere from Egypt. His description has been preserved by Aratus about 270 BC in his poem "Phaenomena." We also have the star catalog of Ptolemy, a Greek astronomer of about AD 150, which lists where each star is in the figure. Most ancient astronomers carefully followed tradition about exactly where to place every star because they believed that the "gods" had drawn the figures.
There was apparently a tradition that there were 48 constellations in the original set. Ptolemy listed 48, and the Persians a few hundred years later also list 48. They agree that there were twelve in the region of sky where the sun and planets all appear to move. Those twelve are called the zodiac, and the Egyptians and Persians both understood that each had three associated constellations called "decans," bringing the total to 48. Whereas little work has been done on understanding the Egyptian set, we have a list of all 48 constellations from the Persians, including how they are divided into decans. Rolleston's great contribution was to discover this set and to recognize their meaning from a Christian perspective.
(Mazzaroth is a Biblical Hebrew word (מַזָּרוֹת Mazzārōṯ, LXX Μαζουρωθ, Mazourōth) found in the Book of Job and literally meaning 'a garland of crowns'. but its context is that of astronomical constellations, and it is often interpreted as a term for the zodiac or the constellations thereof.(Job 38:31-32). The similar word mazalot (מַּזָּלוֹת) in 2 Kings 23:3-5 may be related.)
Catasterismi (Greek Καταστερισμοί Katasterismoi, "placings among the stars") is an Alexandrian prose retelling of the mythic origins of stars and constellations, as they were interpreted in Hellenistic culture.
God Canopus
The God Osiris Canopus
Canopus taken from ISS.
Anatoly Fomenko, correspondent member of the famous Moscow Academy and Department leader at Moscow State University (Differential Geometry) is not exactly popular amongst historians. His New Chronology states that the majority opinion about History is erroneous before XIVth century: between AD 700 & 1300 most "historical events" are falsifications; but those events belonging to Classical Antiquity which are not again falsifications, happened in the above period. And then we absolutely do not know about historical events before 700 AD. (lukacs@rmki.kfki.hu)
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