Abstract
Plato’s views on astronomy are still somehow debated, however various scholars have associated his name with the project of “saving the appearances”, which is thought to have aimed at offering a precise geometrical account of celestial motions. A passage from Theon of Smyrna’s treatise on Platonic mathematics relates this project with the construction of mechanical models of the cosmos. New information deriving from the study of the so-called Antikythera mechanism, found nearly 100 years ago in an ancient shipwreck in the Aegean, seems to provide important technical evidence illustrating the evolution of this endeavour during the Hellenistic period.
Bibliography
Adam, J. (1902): The Republic of Plato, edited with Critical Notes, Commentary and Appendices. Cambridge.Suche in Google Scholar
Allen, M. et al. (2016): The Antikythera Mechanism Research Project, ‘General Preface to the Inscriptions’, Almagest 7, pp. 6 – 35.Suche in Google Scholar
ASW: N. Kaltsas, E. Vlachogianni, P. Bouyia, eds. (2012): The Antikythera Shipwreck: The ship, the treasures, the mechanism. Athens (National Archaeological Museum).Suche in Google Scholar
Aujac, G. (1970): “La sphéropée, ou la mécanique au service de la découverte du monde”, Revue d’Histoire des Sciences 23, pp. 93 – 107.10.3406/rhs.1970.3119Suche in Google Scholar
Aujac, G. (1975): Géminos: Introduction aux Phénomènes. Paris.Suche in Google Scholar
Berryman, S. (2003): “Ancient Automata and Mechanical Explanation”, Phronesis 48, pp. 344 – 69.10.1163/156852803772456083Suche in Google Scholar
Berryman, S. (2009): The Mechanical Hypothesis in Ancient Greek Natural Philosophy. Cambridge.10.1017/CBO9780511605284Suche in Google Scholar
Bidez, J. (1945): Eos ou Platon et l’Orient. Bruxelles.Suche in Google Scholar
Bitsakis, Y. – Jones, A. (2016): “The Back Cover Inscription”, Almagest 7, pp. 216 – 48.10.1484/J.ALMAGEST.5.110736Suche in Google Scholar
Bodnár, I. M. (2012): “Sôzein ta phainomena: Some Semantic Considerations”, Croatian Journal of Philosophy 12, pp. 269 – 81.Suche in Google Scholar
Bouyia, P. (2012): “Maritime Commerce and Luxury in the Age of Cicero: The Evidence of the Antikythera Shipwreck”, ASW pp. 287 – 92.Suche in Google Scholar
Bowen, A. C. (2013): Simplicius on the Planets and Their Motions. Leiden.10.1163/9789004241718Suche in Google Scholar
Boyancé, P. (1936): Études sur le Songe de Scipion. Paris.Suche in Google Scholar
Brumbaugh, R. S. (1951): “Colors of the Hemispheres in Plato’s Myth of Er (Republic 616 E)”, CPh 46, pp. 173 – 76.10.1086/363397Suche in Google Scholar
Bulmer-Thomas, I. (1984): “Plato’s Astronomy”, Classical Quarterly 34, pp. 107 – 12.10.1017/S0009838800029347Suche in Google Scholar
Burkert, W. (1972): Lore and Science in Ancient Pythagoreanism, translated by E. L. Minar. Jr. Cambridge, MA.Suche in Google Scholar
Burnyeat, M. F. (1987): “Platonism and Mathematics. A Prelude to Discussion”. In: A. Graeser (ed.), Mathematics and Metaphysics in Aristotle. Bern – Stuttgart, pp. 213 – 40.Suche in Google Scholar
Burnyeat, M. F. (2005): “Εἰκὼς μῦθος”, Rhizai 2, pp. 143 – 65.Suche in Google Scholar
Cabanes, P. (2011): “Le Méchanisme d’Anticythère, les Naa de Dodone et le Calendrier Épirote”, Tekmeria 10, pp. 249 – 60 (available at: http://www.tekmeria.org).10.12681/tekmeria.278Suche in Google Scholar
Cooper, J. M., ed. (1997): Plato, Complete Works. Indianapolis.Suche in Google Scholar
Cumont, F. (1935): “Les noms des planètes et l’astrolatrie chez les Grecs”, L’Antiquité Classique 4, pp. 5 – 43.10.3406/antiq.1935.2978Suche in Google Scholar
Dijksterhuis, E. J. (1987): Archimedes, translated by C. Dikshoorn. Princeton.10.1515/9781400858613Suche in Google Scholar
Dodge, B. (1970): The Fihrist of al-Nadīm. New York.Suche in Google Scholar
Dorandi, T. (1991): Filodemo, Storia dei Filosofi: Platone e l’Academia (PHerc. 1021 e 164).Naples.Suche in Google Scholar
Duhem, P. (1982): Sauver les apparences. Σώζειν τὰ φαινόμενα: Essai sur la notion de théorie physique de Platon à Galilée, deuxième édition. Paris [first edition: Paris 1908].Suche in Google Scholar
Evans, J. (1999): “The Material Culture of Greek Astronomy”, JHA 30, pp. 237 – 307.10.1177/002182869903000305Suche in Google Scholar
Evans, J. and Carman, C. C. (2014): “Mechanical Astronomy: A Route to the Ancient Discovery of Epicycles and Eccentrics”. In: N. Sidoli and G. Van Brummelen (eds.), From Alexandria, Through Baghdad: Studies in Honor of J. L. Berggren. Berlin, pp. 145 – 174.10.1007/978-3-642-36736-6_7Suche in Google Scholar
Falcon, A. (2012): Aristotelianism in the First Century BCE. Xenarchus of Seleucia. Cambridge.10.1017/CBO9781139025454Suche in Google Scholar
Freeth, T., Jones, A. Steele, J. M. and Bitsakis, Y. (2008): “Calendars with Olympiad and Eclipse Prediction on the Antikythera Mechanism – Supplementary Notes”, version available at the AMRP web server (see note 1) 1 – 42; published in Nature 454, pp. 614 – 17.10.1038/nature07130Suche in Google Scholar
Freeth, T., Bitsakis, Y., Edmunds, M., Jones, A., Moussas, X. and Wright, M. (2012): “Functions and Models of the Antikythera Mechanism: Recent Research”, ASW pp. 256 – 72.Suche in Google Scholar
Freeth, T. – Jones, A. (2012): “The Cosmos in the Antikythera Mechanism”, ISAW Papers 4, available at http://dlib.nyu.edu/awdl/isaw/isaw-papers/4”Suche in Google Scholar
von Fritz, K. (1934):Art. “Theon (14) aus Smyrna”, RE ser. II, Bd. 5, cols. 2067 – 75.Suche in Google Scholar
Gigon, O. (1973): “Posidoniana – Ciceroniana – Lactantiana”. In: W. den Boer et al. (eds.), Romanitas et Christianitas: Studia J. H. Waszink. Amsterdam, pp. 145 – 80.Suche in Google Scholar
Goldstein, R. B. and Bowen, A. C. (1991): “The Introduction of Dated Observations and Precise Measurements in Greek Astronomy”, Archive for History of Exact Sciences 43, pp. 93 – 132.10.1007/BF00375347Suche in Google Scholar
Gottschalk, H. B. (1980): Heracleides of Pontus. Oxford.Suche in Google Scholar
Gunther, R. T. (1932): Astrolabes of the World. Oxford.Suche in Google Scholar
Heath, Th. (1913): Aristarchus of Samos, the Ancient Copernicus. Oxford.Suche in Google Scholar
Heath, Th. (1921): A History of Greek Mathematics. Oxford.Suche in Google Scholar
Jones, A. (2012): “The Antikythera Mechanism and the Public Face of Greek Science”, PoS 038 (From Antikythera to the Square Kilometer Array: Lessons from the Ancients, Kerastari, 12 – 15 June 2012), pp. 1 – 22, available at http://pos.sissa.it/archive/conferences/170/038/Antikythera%20&%20SKA_038.pdfSuche in Google Scholar
Jones, A. (2015): “Theon of Smyrna and Ptolemy on Celestial Modeling in Two and Three Dimensions”. In: V. De Risi (ed.), Mathematical Space: Trends in the History of Science. DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-12102-4_4.10.1007/978-3-319-12102-4_4Suche in Google Scholar
Jones, A. (forth.): “Theon of Smyrna on the Apparent Motion of the Planets”.Suche in Google Scholar
Kalfas, V. (1996): “Plato’s “Real Astronomy” and the Myth of Er”, Elenchos 17, pp. 5 – 20.Suche in Google Scholar
Keyser, P. T. (1998): “Orreries, the Date of [Plato] Letter ii, and Eudoros of Alexandria”, Archiv für Geschichte der Philsophie 80, pp. 241 – 67.10.1515/agph.1998.80.3.241Suche in Google Scholar
Kidd, I. G. (1978): “Philosophy and Science in Posidonius”, A&A 24, pp. 7 – 15.10.1515/9783110241365.7Suche in Google Scholar
Knorr, W. R. (1990): “Plato and Eudoxus on Planetary Motions”, JHA 21, pp. 313 – 29.10.1177/002182869002100401Suche in Google Scholar
Lloyd, G. E. R. (1978): “Saving the Appearances”, Classical Quarterly 28, pp. 202 – 22.10.1017/S0009838800037861Suche in Google Scholar
Magou, E. (2012): “Archaeometric Research of the Antikythera Mechanism during the Century following its Recovery”, ASW pp. 232 – 40.Suche in Google Scholar
Mastrocinque, A. (2009): “The Antikythera Shipwreck and Sinope’s Culture during the Mithridatic Wars”. In: J. M. HØjte (ed.), Mithridates VI and the Pontic Kingdom. Aarhus, pp. 313 – 19.Suche in Google Scholar
Merlan, Ph. (1969): „Zwei Untersuchungen zu Alexander von Aphrodisias”, Philologus 113, pp. 85 – 91.10.1524/phil.1969.113.12.85Suche in Google Scholar
Mittelstrass, J. (1963): Die Rettung der Phänomene. Berlin.10.1515/9783112415962Suche in Google Scholar
Mourelatos, A. P. D. (1980): “Plato’s “Real Astronomy”: Republic 527d-531d”. In: J. P. Anton (ed.), Science and the Sciences in Plato. New York, pp. 33 – 73.Suche in Google Scholar
Neugebauer, O. (1948): “Mathematical Methods in Ancient Astronomy”, Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society 54, pp. 1013 – 41.10.1007/978-1-4612-5559-8_5Suche in Google Scholar
Neugebauer, O. (1949): “The Early History of the Astrolabe”, Isis 40, pp. 240 – 56.10.1007/978-1-4612-5559-8_20Suche in Google Scholar
Neugebauer, O. (1959): “The Equivalence of Eccentric and Epicyclic Motion According to Apollonius”, Scripta Mathematica 24, pp. 5 – 21.10.1007/978-1-4612-5559-8_28Suche in Google Scholar
Neugebauer, O. (1969): The Exact Sciences in Antiquity. New York.Suche in Google Scholar
Petrucci, F. M. (2015): “Adrastus on Aristotle’s Cosmology: the Peripatetic Exegesis of De Caelo and Metaphysics Λ”, Rhizomata 3, pp. 159 – 99.10.1515/rhiz-2015-0009Suche in Google Scholar
Powell, I. U. (1925): Collectanea Alexandrina. Oxford.Suche in Google Scholar
Proskynitopoulou, R. (2012): “The History of the Study of the Antikythera Mechanism”, ASW pp. 228 – 31.Suche in Google Scholar
Ross, D. (1951): Plato’s Theory of Ideas. Oxford.Suche in Google Scholar
Sedley, D. (1976): “Epicurus and the Mathematicians of Cyzicus”, Cronache Ercolanesi 6, pp. 23 – 54.Suche in Google Scholar
Sharples, R. W. (1982): “Alexander of Aphrodisias on Divine Providence: Two Problems”, Classical Quarterly 32, pp. 198 – 211.10.1017/S0009838800023004Suche in Google Scholar
Sorabji, R. (2007): “Adrastus: Modifications to Aristotle’s Physics of the Heavens by Peripatetics and Others, 100 BC to 200 AD”. In: R. W. Sharples and R. Sorabji (eds.), Greek and Roman Philosophy 100 BC – 200 AD (BICS Suppl. 94). London, pp. 575 – 92.10.1111/j.2041-5370.2007.tb02450.xSuche in Google Scholar
Tarán L. (1975): Academica: Plato, Philip of Opus, and the pseudo-Platonic Epinomis. Philadelphia.Suche in Google Scholar
Tarrant, H. (1993): Thrasyllan Platonism. Ithaca.10.7591/9781501737947Suche in Google Scholar
Tassios, Th. (2012): “Prerequisites for the Antikythera Mechanism to be produced in the 2nd Century BC”, ASW pp. 249 – 55.Suche in Google Scholar
Vlastos, G. (1975): Plato’s Universe. Seattle.Suche in Google Scholar
Vlastos, G. (1980): “The Role of Observation in Plato’s Conception of Astronomy”. In: J. P. Anton (ed.), Science and the Sciences in Plato. New York, pp. 1 – 31.10.1007/978-94-009-2015-6_1Suche in Google Scholar
Wright (2003) and (2005): “Epicyclic Gearing and the Antikythera Mechanism”, Part I and Part I”, Antiquarian Horology 27, pp. 270 – 79, and 29, pp. 51 – 63.Suche in Google Scholar
Zapheiropoulou, M. (2012): “Old and New Fragments of the Antikythera Mechanism and Inscriptions”, ASW pp. 241 – 48.Suche in Google Scholar
Zhmud, L. (1998): “Plato as “Architect of Science””, Phronesis 43, 211 – 44.10.1163/156852898321119713Suche in Google Scholar
Zhmud, L. (2005): “‘Saving the Phenomena’ between Eudoxus and Eudemus”. In: G. Wolters and M. Carrier (eds.), Homo Sapiens und Homo Faber: Festschrift für J. Mittelstrass. Berlin, pp. 17 – 24.10.1515/9783110923940.17Suche in Google Scholar
Zhmud, L. (2006): The Origin of the History of Science in Classical Antiquity. Berlin (Peripatoi 19).10.1515/9783110194326Suche in Google Scholar
© De Gruyter 2016
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Titelseiten
- Michael Frede Memorial Lectures
- Plato’s Marionette
- Articles
- How did Anaximander Become a Material Monist?
- Platonic Astronomy and the Development of Ancient Sphairopoiia
- Plato’s Theodicy in the Timaeus
- The Actuality of the Movable (by the Mover): a Relational Interpretation of Aristotle’s Definition of Motion
- Discussion Note
- Two Neo-Analytic Approaches to Parmenides’ Metaphysical-Cosmological Poem
- Reviews
- Gabriele Cornelli, Richard McKirahan, and Constantinos Macris (eds.), On Pythagoreanism
- David Sider and Dirk Obbink (eds.), Doctrine and Doxography: Studies on Heraclitus and Pythagoras
- Francesco Verde, Epicuro
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Titelseiten
- Michael Frede Memorial Lectures
- Plato’s Marionette
- Articles
- How did Anaximander Become a Material Monist?
- Platonic Astronomy and the Development of Ancient Sphairopoiia
- Plato’s Theodicy in the Timaeus
- The Actuality of the Movable (by the Mover): a Relational Interpretation of Aristotle’s Definition of Motion
- Discussion Note
- Two Neo-Analytic Approaches to Parmenides’ Metaphysical-Cosmological Poem
- Reviews
- Gabriele Cornelli, Richard McKirahan, and Constantinos Macris (eds.), On Pythagoreanism
- David Sider and Dirk Obbink (eds.), Doctrine and Doxography: Studies on Heraclitus and Pythagoras
- Francesco Verde, Epicuro