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Astronomical Images : Figure for computing the angles of inclination of an eclipsed body

Ptolemy

Astronomical Images

<p style='text-align: justify;'>This diagram comes from the first Greek edition of Ptolemy's <i>Almagest </i>(c. 150 A.D.), which was published in 1538 along with Theon of Alexandria's commentary on the work. Regiomontanus had previously promised a translation in his 1474 advertisement leaflet of his intended publications, but he could not carry out the project. Nonetheless, the Greek manuscripts that he owned were the basis for the editions by Simon Grynaeus and Joachim Camerarius the Elder. Grynaeus's dedicatory letter to Henry VIII, King of England, precedes the <i>Almagest</i>. The woodcut entitled 'Declination of horizons' shows the diagram for computing the angles of inclination of an eclipsed body to the ecliptic and of the ecliptic to the horizon. The diagram is drawn not as a table, but as a series of concentric circles, one for each latitude, for places like Meroe, Rhodes and Borysthenes.</p>


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