Astronomical Papyri from Oxyrhynchus (Vol. I and II) - (Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society) by Alexander Jones (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Presents 200 hitherto unpub. astronomical texts & horoscopes written in Greek on papyrus, which were excavated a century ago in the rubbish heaps of Oxyrhynchus, a district capital of Roman Egypt. Through these documents we obtain the first coherent picture of the range of astronomical activity, chiefly in the service of astrology, during the Roman Empire. The astronomy of this period turns out to have been much more varied than we previously thought, with Babylonian arithmetical methods of prediction coexisting with tables based on geometrical models of orbits. Editions of the texts are accomp. by facing translations & explanatory & philological commentaries. The intro. provides the first comprehensive treatment of astronomical papyri, explaining their contents & purpose, the underlying astronomical theories, & strategies for analyzing & dating them. Tables & graphs.

Review Quotes

"[A] landmark in the investigation of the history of astronomy. By introducing a corpus of hitherto neglected sources...[this book] necessitates a broad revision in the way the history of ancient astronomy...is to be understood."--Francesco Rochberg "Journal of Near East Studies"

"[T]his is scholarship of the highest standard, and historians for generations to come will be indebted to the author for his edition of these important texts."--J. M. Steele "Journal of the American Oriental Society"

"It is clear that the history of Greek astronomy has to be completely revised in light of the new evidence [in this book], and the neglect of the Babylonian material can no longer be justified. For this, and for his careful edition of the new documents, Jones deserves our gratitude."--Bernard R. Goldstein "Journal of the History of Astronomy"

"It is hardly possible in a few words to do justice to the wealth of material in this book. The work as a whole is a remarkable contribution to scholarship."--Roger S. Bagnall "The Classical Review"

"The most important work about astronomical papyri since the publication in 1959 of 'Greek Horoscopes' by Otto Neugebauer and H. G. van Hoesen."--Rosario Pinaudi "Bioblioteca Orientalis"

"The most significant contribution made to the history of Greek astronomy since the publication of Neugebauer's History of Ancient Mathematical Astronomy in 1975!"--David Pingree "International Journal of the Classical Tradition"

"Undoubtedly one of the best and most important books on ancient astronomy of the last decades."--Benno Van Dalen "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society"