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

Centaurus 45
(2003) 79–82.
129
Catalogus Codicum Astrologorum Graecorum, Vol. 2, ed. by F. Cumont. Brussels
1900, 181–186.
130
Brentjes. Historiographie, 46, 48f.
131
See e.g. Evans, J. Rec.:
An eleventh-century manual of Arabo-Byzantine astronomy,
ed. by A. Jones, Amsterdam 1987,
JHA 20 (1989) 217–219; Saliba, G. Rec.: The as-
tronomical works of Gregory Chioniades, I, ed. by D. Pingree, Amsterdam 1985,
JHA 21 (1990) 211–215. It is revealing that in the late 13
th
century the astronomer
Gregory Chioniades uses in his translation Persian terms even for such common no-
tions as eclipse, latitude, or hour.
132
Tihon, A. L’astronomie byzantine (du V
e
au XV
e
siècle),
Byzantium 51 (1981) 603–
624; Bydén, B.
Theodore Metoichites’ Stoicheiosis astronomike and the study of
natural philosophy and mathematics in early Palaiologan Byzantium, Göteborg
2003, 216ff.
133
Hippasus is encountered in the entry on Heraclitus as the latter’s teacher; his math-
ematical work is not mentioned.

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3. From
inventio to translatio artium: scheme and reality
305
of such Hellenistic figures as Autolycus, Euclid, Aristarchus, Archimedes,
134
Apollonius, Hypsicles, and Geminus, whose works were still accessible in By-
zantium. Missing among the scientists of the Imperial age are the popularizers
Nicomachus of Gerasa and Cleomedes, as well as such serious scientists as
Hero, Menelaus, Diophantus, and Eutocius. No less unsatisfactory is the list of
those on whom the encyclopaedia includes individual entries.
135
The classical
period is represented here by Meton, Archytas, Theaetetus, and Eudoxus, the
Hellenistic by Eratosthenes,
136
Hipparchus, and Theodosius, the Imperial by
Ptolemy, Pappus, Theon of Alexandria, and his daughter Hypatia. The miser-
able state of the knowledge of ancient science is shown not only by this list of
only 11 names, but also by the fact that all these mathematicians and astron-
omers (with the exception of Meton) figure in the
Suda as philosophers. It is
filósofo~, rather than the more appropriate maqhmatikó~, gewmétrh~ or
@stronómo~ (@strológo~) that is here their principal and practically sole
characteristic, independent of whether they wrote philosophical works as well
as scientific ones.
137
Since we find in the
Suda figuring as ‘philosophers’ the historian Arrianus
(who did, in fact, publish Epictetus), the author of a dream-book Artemidorus,
and even Solon and Alcibiades, the authors of the encyclopaedia seem to under-
stand ‘philosophy’ very broadly. A closer look at the use they make of such
terms common in Antiquity as mathematician, geometer, astronomer, or phil-
osopher will show, however, that the reason for this is not a particular bias they
have, but their poor notion of their subject itself. Thus, Meton is presented here
as maqhmatikó~, @stronómo~ and ıatró~, though nothing is known of his
work in medicine. Theaetetus is referred to as a ‘philosopher and astronomer’,
on which the classical tradition is silent. The only invention associated with
Archytas is that of a toy rattle. Mentioned among Eudoxus’ works is the
Astron-
omy in verse, i.e., Aratus’ Phaenomena. Found among the several ‘astron-
omers’ who figure in the encyclopaedia is Zoroaster, the king of the Assyrians,
and Faunus (Hermes) of Egypt, who discovered gold, silver, and iron. The only
author (apart from Meton) referred to as maqhmatikó~ appeared to be the
traveler and geographer Scylax of Carianda, of whose mathematical work we
134
There is no special entry on Archimedes, though his name occurs in other entries in
connection with various names of mechanical devices. That he was a mathematician
can be inferred only from the entry on Theodosius, who wrote a commentary on
Archimedes’
Method.
135
We leave out here the names of philosophers who pursued mathematics and astron-
omy as well (Thales, Pythagoras, Posidonius, etc.).
136
The entry on Eratosthenes says nothing about his mathematics and astronomy; only
his