The Hellenistic reception of Babylonian horoscopic astrology gave rise to the question of what the planets really do and whether astrology is a science. This question in turn became one of defining the Greco-Latin science of astronomy, a project that took Aristotle's views as a starting-point. Thus, I concentrate on one aspect of the various definitions of astronomy proposed in Hellenistic times, their demarcation of astronomy and physical theory. I explicate the account offered by Geminus and its subordination of astronomy to arguments made in physical theory about what really is the case. I then show how Ptolemy treats the same topic but maintains that this science is sufficient on its own to determine the realia it studies. In this way, I identify two moments in an obvious process of intellectual change that had profound consequences for the history of astronomy and cosmology over the next 1500 years. My hope is that this will advance our understanding of the reception of horoscopic astrology in Hellenistic times and also serve to locate Ptolemy more fully in his intellectual context.
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Book
Barker, Andrew;
(2000)
Scientific Method in Ptolemy's Harmonics
(/isis/citation/CBB000100158/)
Article
Jones, Alexander;
(2005)
Ptolemy's Canobic Inscription and Heliodorus' Observation Reports
(/isis/citation/CBB000651325/)
Article
Jones, Alexander;
(2006)
Ptolemy's Ancient Planetary Observations
(/isis/citation/CBB000671001/)
Book
Swerdlow, N. M.;
(2000)
Ancient Astronomy and Celestial Divination
(/isis/citation/CBB000110580/)
Chapter
Jones, Alexander;
(2005)
“In order that we should not ourselves appear to be adjusting our estimates…to make them fit some predetermined amount”
(/isis/citation/CBB000651346/)
Thesis
Hamm, Elizabeth Anne;
(2011)
Ptolemy's Planetary Theory: An English Translation of Book One, Part A of the “Planetary Hypotheses” with Introduction and Commentary
(/isis/citation/CBB001562830/)
Article
Dambis, A. K.;
Efremov, Yu. N.;
(2000)
Dating Ptolemy's Star Catalogue through Proper Motions: The Hipparchan Epoch
(/isis/citation/CBB000671360/)
Book
Jones, Alexander;
(2010)
Ptolemy in Perspective: Use and Criticism of His Work from Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century
(/isis/citation/CBB001021794/)
Article
Duke, Dennis;
(2009)
Mean Motions in Ptolemy's Planetary Hypotheses
(/isis/citation/CBB000932306/)
Article
Jones, Alexander;
Duke, Dennis;
(2005)
Ptolemy's Planetary Mean Motions Revisited
(/isis/citation/CBB000651415/)
Article
Jones, Alexander;
(2000)
Studies in the Astronomy of the Roman Period IV: Solar Tables Based on a Non-Hipparchian Model
(/isis/citation/CBB000111298/)
Chapter
Swerdlow, N. M.;
(2005)
Ptolemy's Theories of the Latitude of the Planets in the Almagest, Handy Tables, and Planetary Hypotheses
(/isis/citation/CBB000651347/)
Book
Evans, James;
Berggren, J. Lennart;
(2006)
Geminos's Introduction to the Phenomena: A Translation and Study of a Hellenistic Survey of Astronomy
(/isis/citation/CBB000741828/)
Article
Mueller, Ian;
(2004)
Remarks on Physics and Mathematical Astronomy and Optics in Epicurus, Sextus Empiricus, and Some Stoics
(/isis/citation/CBB000502306/)
Chapter
Fantham, Elaine;
(2011)
More Sentiment than Science: Roman Stargazing before and after Manilius
(/isis/citation/CBB001201028/)
Article
Bowen, Alan C.;
(2006)
Geminus and the Length of the Month: The Authenticity of Intro. Ast. 8.43-45
(/isis/citation/CBB000670082/)
Article
Pérez Jiménez, Aurelio;
(2007)
Dodecátropos, Zodíaco y Partes de la Nave en la Astrologíca Antigua
(/isis/citation/CBB000831596/)
Chapter
Heilen, Stephan;
(2010)
Ptolemy's Doctrine of the Terms and Its Reception
(/isis/citation/CBB001021797/)
Article
Duke, Dennis;
(2008)
Four Lost Episodes in Ancient Solar Theory
(/isis/citation/CBB000930129/)
Chapter
Jones, Alexander;
(2010)
Ancient Rejection and Adoption of Ptolemy's Frame of Reference for Longitudes
(/isis/citation/CBB001021796/)
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