Vicki S. Musings

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  L...

constellation (n.) early 14c.,  constellacioun , "position of a planet in the zodiac;" late 14c., "one of the recognized star patterns handed down from antiquity" (in the zodiac or not), from Old French  constellacion "constellation, conjuncture (of planets)" and directly from Late Latin  constellationem (nominative  constellatio ) "a collection of stars," especially as supposed to exert influence on human affairs," from  constellatus  "set with stars," from assimilated form of Latin  com  "with, together" (see  con- ) + past participle of  stellare  "to shine," from  stella  "star" (from PIE root  *ster-  (2) "star"). The oldest sense is astrological, of the position of planets ("stars") relative to the zodiac signs on a given day, usually the day of one's birth, as a determiner of one's character. "I folwed ay myn inclinacioun/By vertu of my constillacioun...