Download Ptolemaeus, Claudius

Ptolemaeus, Claudius
Geographia Universalis, Vetus Et Nova, Complectens Clavdii Ptolemaei
Alexandrini Enarrationis Libros VIII
Repository: Central Library of Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
Signature: Lyc C I-VII fol. 81 b
Author: Ptolemaeus, Claudius; Münster, Sebastian
Translator, commentator: Pirckheimer, Willibald
Place of origin: Basel
Printer: Petri, Heinrich
Date of origin: 1542
Language: Latin
Note: geography, cartography
Overview: Claudius Ptolemy (gr. Claudios Ptolemaios, 100 - 178? ad) – an ancient Greek
astronomer, astrologist, mathematician, geographer and theoretician of science. His famous
works are Mathematiké syntaxis and astrological supplement Mathematiké syntaxis
tetrabiblos. He summarized astrological knowledge in Megalé syntaxis and geographical data
and theory in Geografiké hyfégésis. It contains 27 maps and was regarded as a basic
geographical work until modern times. They are a lot of editions and supplemented reeditions
of it. Willibald Pirckheimer (1470-1530) translated it in Latin and commented. A theologist
and cosmographer Sebastian Münster (1488-1552) attached other 21 maps and the appendix
with new geographical data.
After the list of countries, peoples, cities, mountains, rivers, islands, forests, and deserts
follows Chapter 1 contained general geography and computing methods of distance between
two places, geography of sea, latitude and longitude theory.
Chapter 2 –7 contain explanation about known regions of world and data about borders,
rivers, lakes, mountains, cities and population. Author illustrated three different methods for
projecting the Earth's surface on a map (an equal area projection, a stereographic projection,
and a conic projection), the calculation of coordinate locations for some eight thousand places
on the Earth, and the development of concepts of geographical latitude and longitude (Chapter
8)
Content:
Chapter 1: General geography
Chapter 2: West Europe (the area from British islands to Pannonia)
Chapter 3: East Europe
Chapter 4: Africa (the area known in author´s period: North and Middle Africa)
Chapter 5: Asia
Chapter 6: Great Asia
Chapter 7: West parts of Great Asia
Chapter 8: List of maps and general notes
Set of maps (2 maps of world, 30 maps of Europe, 4 maps of Africa and 12 maps of Asia)
Münster, Sebastian: Appendix geographica (thoughts about usefulness of geography studies,
the difference between geography and cosmography, the explanation of some geographers
propositions, the comparison of Hispania and Gallia, new versions of old geographical names.
Ptolemaeus, Claudius
Born: about 85 in Egypt
Died: about 165 in Alexandria, Egypt
Biography and portrait
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemy
Life
One of the most influential Greek astronomers and geographers of his time, Ptolemy
propounded the geocentric theory in a form that prevailed for 1400 years.
We know very little of Ptolemy's life. He made astronomical observations from Alexandria in
Egypt during the years AD 127-41. In fact the first observation which we can date exactly was
made by Ptolemy on 26 March 127 while the last was made on 2 February 141. It was
claimed by Theodore Meliteniotes in around 1360 that Ptolemy was born in Hermiou (which
is in Upper Egypt rather than Lower Egypt where Alexandria is situated) but since this claim
first appears more than one thousand years after Ptolemy lived, it must be treated as relatively
unlikely to be true. In fact there is no evidence that Ptolemy was ever anywhere other than
Alexandria.
Works
Ptolemy's work in astronomy and geography have made him famous for the ages, despite the
fact that many of his theories were in the following centuries proven wrong or changed.
More about Ptolemy´s astronomy
http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/PtolemyAstronomy.htm
Ptolemy´s geography
Ptolemy collected, analyzed, and presented geographical knowledge so that it could be
preserved and perfected by future generations. These ideas include expressing locations by
longitude and latitude, representing a spherical earth on a flat surface, and developing the first
equal area map projection. Ptolemy's accomplishments reflect his understanding of spatial
relationships among places on earth and of the Earth's spatial relationships to other celestial
bodies.
Ptolemy's most famous written works are the Almagest, a textbook of astronomy in which,
among other things, he laid the foundations of modern trigonometry; the Tetrabiblos, a
compendium of astrology and geography; and Geographica (his guide to "Geography"),
which compiled and summarized much of the geographic information accumulated by the
Greeks and Romans up to that time. Geographica a work of seven volumes, the standard
geography textbook until the 15th century, transmitted a vast amount of topographical detail
to Renaissance scholars, profoundly influencing their conception of the world. Containing
instructions for drawing maps of the entire "oikoumene" (inhabited world), Geographica was
what we would now call an atlas. It included a world map, 26 regional maps, and 67 maps of
smaller areas. They illustrated three different methods for projecting the Earth's surface on a
map (an equal area projection, a stereographic projection, and a conic projection), the
calculation of coordinate locations for some eight thousand places on the Earth, and the
development of concepts of geographical latitude and longitude (Figure 1). Through his
publications, Ptolemy dominated European cartography for nearly a century and inspired
explorers like Christopher Columbus to test the spatial boundaries of the world.
Copies and reprints of Ptolemy's world maps made up the majority of navigation and factual
maps for centuries to come, providing the base information for early European explorers.
Ptolemy also standardized the orientation of maps, with North at the top and East on the left,
thereby placing the known world in the upper left, a standard that remains to this day.
Form: book, old print
Support: Paper
Collation: [52], 195 p., [48] l. with maps
Dimensions: 29,5 x 20 cm
Decoration: woodcut illustrations - maps
Binding: carton with paper and leather (18. century), softly damaged
Provenance: Ex Libris Michaelis Institoris Mossotzy Posonii 1763 mp ... (autograph). Ex
Bibliotheca b. Institoris Gymn. A. C. Poson. 1803 donata (stamp)
Ref.: Adams P 2227
Other references: Berggren, J. L. - Jones, Alexander: Ptolemy`s Geography : an annotated
translation of the theoretical chapters. Princeton, 2000.
Stevenson, Edward L. (ed.): The Geography. New York, 1991.