Geminus and the concept of mean motion in Greco-Latin astronomy.

Details Geminus and the concept of mean motion in Greco-Latin astronomy. Geminus and the concept of mean motion in Greco-Latin astronomy.

Aug 1996

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996ahes...50..157b&link_type=abstract

Arch. Hist. Exact Sci., Vol. 50, No. 2, p. 157 - 185

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

History Of Astronomy

Scientific paper

One striking feature of Ptolemy's astronomical theory (≡ AD 100 - 170) is his distinction between real and apparent motion of the celestial bodies. Essential to this distinction is the idea of mean motion. Apparently, the first Greco-Latin astronomer using this idea was Geminus, who probably lived in the first century BC, or in the first half of the first century AD. The present essay analyses Geminus' text Introductio astronomiae and shows how the attempt to reconstruct the basic parameters of the Moon's motion in longitude - the mean synodic and anomalistic periods - by applying an arithmetical scheme (Greek exeligmos) led Geminus to the concept of mean motion. The role of Babylonian lunar theory in the development of Geminus' ideas is examined in detail.

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