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

De
inundatione Nili (fr. 248, p. 196.19f. Rose). Though absent in Aëtius, it figures in
many other authors (Diod. I,41.1 = 41 A 11, Sen.
QN IV,2.26, etc.). See Dox., 226f.;
Gemelli-Marciano, L. Ein neues Zeugnis zu Oinopides von Chios bei Iohannes
Tzetzes. Das Problem der Nilschwelle,
MH 50 (1993) 79–93, and above, 143 n. 112.
144
Dox., 226f.; Eudox. fr. 287–288 (from G4~ período~). It is hardly possible to say
whether the subject of the Nile’s floods was treated in Oenopides’ astronomical
treatise or in a special work.
145
See above, 132 n. 63. Interestingly, his explanation of the Nile’s floods is rather natu-
ral-philosophical than geographical: the underground springs, being cold in summer
and warm in winter, are dried in winter by underground heat, while in summer the
water wells up, causing the floods. Cf. Hippon (38 A 10–11; cf. B 1) and [Hipp.]
De
nat. puer. 24–25.
146
See above, 171f.

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5. Oenopides of Chios
263
the obliquity of the ecliptic and the Great Year, which figures in sources inde-
pendent of Eudemus,
147
all evidence on Oenopides’ mathematical astronomy
goes back directly or indirectly to the
History of Astronomy.
148
The reference to
Oenopides found in a brief biographical note on Ptolemy is very likely to come
from Eudemus as well:
Prõto~ dè par’ ˙Ellhsin ô C$o~ Oınopídh~ tà~ @strologikà~ meqódou~
ëx2negken eı~ graf2n.
Oenopides of Chios was the first among the Greeks who wrote down the methods
of (mathematical) astronomy.
149
This evidence was long neglected by specialists in early Greek astronomy and,
for some reason, was omitted by Diels. He printed, in fact, only the continu-
ation of this note that concerns Oenopides’ chronology.
150
Only recently did
Burkert mention this evidence and Franciosi give it its due recognition: “These
words do not mean that ‘Oenopides was the first to write on astronomical
methods’, but only that he treated astronomy systematically by applying to it
the methods of geometry, including demonstrations and drawings.”
151
That this
information goes back (indirectly, of course) to the
History of Astronomy is
confirmed, first of all, by the typical Eudemian formula
 pro¯tos heurete¯s, re-
peated nearly verbatim in the fragment on Eudoxus.
152
It is also important that
this note does not simply point to a particular discovery (eclipses, ecliptic, etc.),
but formulates a conclusion that would have been impossible without a com-
parison of Oenopides’ work with that of his predecessors and, furthermore, that
is in perfect agreement with all the rest of Eudemus’ evidence. In addition, the
147
Aelianus says that Oenopides installed in Olympia a copper tablet with his astro-
nomical calendar (
VH X, 7 = 41 A 9). On the obliquity of the zodiac, see above, 261
n. 137.
148
Of the Hellenistic authors, Posidonius is the only one whose evidence may (though
need not) derive from Oenopides’ own book (see above, 262 n. 142).
149
This note is found as a scholium in several manuscripts of Ptolemy (Boll, F.
Studien
über Claudius Ptolemäus, Leipzig 1894, 53f.), as well as in an astrological manu-
script of the 15
th
century (
Catalogus codicum astrologorum graecorum. T. VIII, Pt.
III, ed. by F. Cumont, Brussels 1912, 95).
150
41 A 1a (= Vit. Ptol. Neapol.): Oenopides’
floruit falls at the end of the Peloponne-
sian war, he was the contemporary of Gorgias, Zeno of Elea, and Herodotus. This
text appears to be based on a chorographical treatise that goes back to Apollodorus.
The latter dated Gorgias’ and Herodotus’
floruit in 444/3 (foundation of Thurii) and
Zeno’s in 464/0. Herodotus’ death was dated at the end of the Peloponnesian war
(405/4); in our text it seems to be confused with Oenopides’ and Herodotus’