Greek · c. 1st century BCE – 5th century CE (papyri); edition 1999
Astronomical Papyri from Oxyrhynchus
P. Oxy. 4133–4300a
About 200 Greek astronomical texts and horoscopes from Oxyrhynchus, edited by Alexander Jones in 1999: theoretical texts, tables, ephemerides, almanacs and horoscopes. They show Babylonian arithmetical methods in use alongside tables from Ptolemy's geometrical models. One of them, P. Oxy. LXI 4160 with a Berlin fragment, is a table of Jupiter's first stations for 30–42 CE that agrees with modern station dates to within about two days.
- Author
- Anonymous (Greco-Egyptian scribes)
- Date
- c. 1st century BCE – 5th century CE (papyri); edition 1999
- Original language
- Greek
- Kind
- Mathematical astronomy
- Planets
- General · no planet named
Editions
One edition.
| Year | Edition | © |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | A. Jones, Astronomical Papyri from Oxyrhynchus (P. Oxy. 4133-4300a), 2 vols., Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society 233, Philadelphia, 1999 | © |
Read it
No digitised copy known.
No digitised copy known. The editions above are the way in.
References
- A. Jones, chapter in Astronomy Before the Telescope, ed. C. Walker, pp. 98–109
- W. Brashear and A. Jones, 'An Astronomical Table Containing Jupiter's Synodic Phenomena', ZPE 125 (1999) 206–210
Also on the Greece and Rome shelf
| Date | Source | Planets | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| c. 2nd–1st century BCE (debated); reconstruction 2021 | Antikythera Mechanism: Front Cover InscriptionAnonymous (Greek makers)Math. astronomy | Me Ve Ma Ju Sa | Math. astronomy |
| Hipparchus fl. c. 150–127 BCE; reported by Ptolemy c. 150 CE | Hipparchus in Almagest IX.2Hipparchus of NicaeaObservation | Me Ve Ma Ju Sa | Observation |
| 1st century BCE (often placed c. 50 BCE) | Introduction to the PhenomenaGeminusMath. astronomy | Me Ve Ma Ju Sa | Math. astronomy |
| 1st century CE (Greek original); Arabic version c. 800 CE | Carmen AstrologicumDorotheus of SidonAstrological | General | Astrological |
| c. 77–79 CE | Natural History, Book IIPliny the ElderTheory / model | Me Ve Ma Ju Sa | Theory / model |
| early 2nd century CE | Expositio rerum mathematicarumTheon of SmyrnaTheory / model | Me Ve Ma Ju Sa | Theory / model |