Leonid Zhmud The Origin of the History of Science in Classical Antiquity

part of professional education, though any original contribution to this science
remained exceptionally rare. The level of mathematical knowledge in this
philosophical community and the scientific interests of its members could vary
considerably: the ‘theurgist’ Iamblichus with his arithmology was unlike the
38
Interestingly, Archytas’ solution to the problem of doubling the cube is found in
the mediaeval Arabic encyclopedia compiled by the Banu Musa brothers. It is,
however, attributed to Menelaus; Eudemus and Archytas are not named (Knorr.
TS,
101ff.).
39
Even if the
History of Astronomy contained some observational and computational
data drawn from the early astronomers (Meton, Euctemon, Eudoxus, Callippus,
etc.), they were already incorporated in the astronomical tradition and, accordingly,
were not particularly important.
40
Neugebauer.
HAMA II, 748ff., 767f. Euclid’s Phaenomena and Autolycus’ On the
Rotating Sphere are considered in book VI of Pappus’ Collectio, but unlike Eudemus
he shows little interest in purely historical matters (cf. above, 173 n. 28, 190).

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Chapter 7: The history of astronomy
238
sober Eutocius, the commentator of difficult works by Apollonius, Archi-
medes, and Ptolemy. Yet in spite of their individual differences, all of these
people regarded themselves as the heirs of a tradition going back to Pythagoras,
Plato, and Aristotle, a tradition in which mathematics was an integral part. This
community’s interest in Eudemus’ historical works, even if at times limited and
superficial, contrasts with the almost total indifference that Greek mathema-
ticians and astronomers showed toward them. This fact apparently confirms our
preliminary conclusion: the historical view of science turned out to be un-
claimed by ancient scientists themselves.
2. Thales and Anaximander
Having outlined the available material from the
History of Astronomy and the
fate of the book, let us now have a closer look at its contents and structure. As
follows from the fragments and testimonies, Eudemus’ book mentioned Tha-
les, Anaximander, Anaximenes (?),
41
Anaxagoras, the Pythagoreans, Oenopi-
des, Meton, Euctemon, Eudoxus, Callippus, Polemarchus, and probably Me-
naechmus. This list is nearly half as long as the one known from the
History of
Geometry and, naturally, contains only some of the names that must have fig-
ured in the original text. In comparison with the
History of Astronomy, the as-
tronomical division of
Physiko¯n doxai omits such astronomers as Meton, Euc-
temon, Eudoxus etc.,
42
but refers to about twenty other physicists, apart from
those found in Eudemus.
43
Thus, while Eudemus dealt with those who made
discoveries in mathematical astronomy, Theophrastus registered the opinions
of physicists as related to astronomy as a whole.
One cannot help noting that Eudemus’ list falls into two roughly equal parts:
from Thales through Anaxagoras, it comprises the same physicists as in
Theophrastus; starting with Oenopides, they are followed by the mathematical
astronomers. Incomplete as our data inevitably remain, this correlation is not
purely by chance: it reflects the actual course of the development of Greek as-
tronomy. Oenopides was not, of course, the first to study astronomy ‘for its own
sake’
44
rather than within the framework of a general cosmological theory, as
did Anaximander and Anaxagoras before him and Democritus and Philolaus
after him. It is very likely, however, that Oenopides was the author of the first
special treatise on mathematical astronomy that gave impetus to the develop-
41
See below, 255f.
42
Eudoxus’ students were excluded for chronological reasons. The reference to Eu-
doxus and Aratus in Aëtius (
Dox., 347.21f.) is a later addition; cf. below, 295f.
43
Xenophanes, Pythagoras, Alcmaeon, Hecataeus, Parmenides, Heraclitus, Empe-
docles, Melissus, Archelaus, Ion of Chios, Leucippus, Democritus, Antiphon, Phi-
lolaus, Diogenes, Ecphantus, Hicetas, Metrodorus, and Plato.
44
Cf. already Cleostratus of Tenedos (
DK 6).

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2. Thales and Anaximander
239
ment of this branch of science and contributed to the further divergence of
physics and mathematics (7.5).
In the