Greek · 1st century BCE (often placed c. 50 BCE)

Introduction to the Phenomena

Eisagōgē eis ta Phainomena; chapter on the planets

An elementary Hellenistic introduction to astronomy. It notes the planets' stations and retrogradations as part of their irregular motion and promises to explain the cause 'elsewhere' (ἐν ἑτέροις), but the surviving text gives no geometric planetary model (Evans & Berggren translation, pp. 198 and 118).

Author: Geminus
Date: 1st century BCE (often placed c. 50 BCE)
Original language: Greek
Kind: Mathematical astronomy
Planets: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn

On the shelf · Greece and Rome · 13−1800 → 2026

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Span · 1st century BCE (often placed c. 50 BCE)Same shelfThis source’s span

Editions

2 editions.

Year	Edition	©
2006	J. Evans and J. L. Berggren, Geminos's Introduction to the Phenomena: A Translation and Study of a Hellenistic Survey of Astronomy, Princeton University Press, 2006	©
1898	Gemini Elementa Astronomiae, ed. and German tr. K. Manitius, Leipzig: Teubner, 1898	PD

Read it

One digitised copy.

Manitius's 1898 Teubner edition, Greek text with German translationInternet Archive / Getty Research InstitutePDOpen ↗

References

J. Feke, review of Evans & Berggren, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2007.04.35

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