Almagest is the
Latin form of the
Arabic name (al-kitabu-l-mijisti, i.e. "The Great Book") of a mathematical and
astronomical treatise proposing the complex motions of the
stars and
planetary paths, originally written in
Greek as μαθηματικἠ σύνταξις (Mathematike Syntaxis, "Mathematical Treatise"; later titled Hè Megalè Syntaxis, "The Great Treatise") by
Ptolemy of
Alexandria,
Egypt. The date of Almagest has recently been more precisely established. Ptolemy set up a public inscription at
Canopus in Egypt in 147/148 A.D. The late N. T. Hamilton found that the version of Ptolemy's models set out in the Canopic Inscription was earlier than the version in Almagest. Hence Almagest cannot have been completed before about A.D. 150, a quarter century after Ptolemy began observing.
[1] Its
geocentric model was accepted as correct for over a thousand years in Arab and
European societies. The Almagest is our most important source of information on ancient
Greek astronomy. The Almagest has also been valuable to students of mathematics because it provides information on the ancient Greek mathematician
Hipparchus' work, which has been lost. Hipparchus wrote about trigonometry, but since his works have been lost mathematicians use Ptolemy's book as their source for information on Hipparchus' works and ancient Greek trigonometry in general.
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