Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
List of Illustrations and Tables
List of Abbreviations


0 Prolegomena to the Study of Hellenistic Astronomy
 Alan C. Bowen and Francesca Rochberg


Part A Technical Requirements


1 The Celestial Sphere
 Clemency Montelle


2 Methods of Reckoning Time
 Robert Hannah


Chapter 3 Quantitative Tools
3.1 Techniques of Measurement and Computation
 Mathieu Ossendrijver


3.2 Planar and Spherical Trigonometry
 Glen Van Brummelen




Chapter 4 Theory of the Sun, Moon, and Planets
4.1 Fundamentals of Planetary Theory
 Nathan Sidoli


4.2 Hypothesis in Greco-Roman Astronomy
 Alan C. Bowen


4.3 Some Early Hypotheses in Greco-Roman Astronomy
 Alan C. Bowen


4.4 The Ptolemaic Planetary Hypotheses
 James C. Evans


4.5 The Hellenistic Theory of Eclipses
 Clemency Montelle


4.6 Hellenistic Babylonian Planetary Theory
 Mathieu Ossendrijver


4.7 The Babylonian Contribution to Greco-Roman Astronomy
 Francesca Rochberg


4.8 Hellenistic Egyptian Planetary Theory
 Micah T. Ross




Part B Observations, Instruments, and Issues


Chapter 5 Observational Foundations
5.1 The Observational Foundations of Babylonian Astronomy
 Lis Brack-Bernsen


5.2 Experience and Observation in Hellenistic Astronomy
 Richard L. Kremer




Chapter 6 Astronomical Instruments
6.1 Hellenistic Surveying Instruments
 Tracey E. Rihll


6.2 Hellenistic Maps and Lists of Places
 Klaus Geus


6.3 Star-Lists from the Babylonians to Ptolemy
 Gerd Graßhoff


6.4 Ptolemy’s Instruments
 Dennis W. Duke




Chapter 7 Thematic Questions
7.1 Issues in Hellenistic Egyptian Astronomical Writings
 Anthony Spalinger


7.2 The Texts and Aims of Babylonian Astronomy
 Hermann Hunger


7.3 Issues in Greco-Roman Astronomy of the Hellenistic Period
 Alan C. Bowen




Part C Contexts


8 The Professional ἀϲτρολόγοϲ
 Wolfgang Hübner


Chapter 9 Hellenistic Astronomy in Public Service
9.1 The Sundial and the Calendar
 Robert Hannah


9.2 The Antikythera Mechanism
 James C. Evans


9.3 Hellenistic Astronomy in Medicine
 Dorian Gieseler Greenbaum




Chapter 10 Hellenistic Astronomy in Literature
10.1 Aratus and the Popularization of Hellenistic Astronomy
 Stamatina Mastorakou


10.2 The Authority of the Roman Heavens
 Alfred Schmid




Chapter 11 Hellenistic Astronomy in the Training and Work of Priests
11.1 Hellenistic Astronomy and the Egyptian Priest
 Alexandra von Lieven


11.2 Hellenistic Astronomy and the Babylonian Scribal Families
 Mathieu Ossendrijver




Chapter 12 Astral Divination and Natal Astrology
12.1 The Hellenistic Horoscope
 Dorian Gieseler Greenbaum


12.2 Hellenistic Babylonian Astral Divination and Nativities
 Francesca Rochberg


12.3 Hellenistic Horoscopes in Greek and Latin: Contexts and Uses
 Stephan Heilen


12.4 Demotic Horoscopes
 Micah T. Ross




Chapter 13 Theological Contexts
13.1 Hellenistic Astronomy in Early Judaic Writings
 James C. VanderKam


13.2 Astral Divination in the Dead Sea Scrolls
 Helen R. Jacobus


13.3 Hellenistic Astronomy in Early Christianities
 Nicola Denzey Lewis


13.4 Cosmology in Mandaean Texts
 Siam Bhayro


13.5 Astral Discourse in the Philosophical Hermetica (Corpus Hermeticum)
 Christian Wildberg




Chapter 14 Hellenistic Astronomy in the Philosophical Schools
14.1 Astronomy and Divination in Stoic Philosophy
 Giuseppe Cambiano


14.2 Plotinus on the Motion of the Stars
 James Wilberding




Historical Glossary of Important Terms in Hellenistic Astronomy
Bibliography
Index of Passages
Index of Names
Index of Subjects

About the Author

Alan C. Bowen, Ph.D. (1977: Philosophy, University of Toronto), is Director of the Institute for Research in Classical Philosophy and Science. He has published numerous books and articles in the history of ancient Greek and Roman science and philosophy.

Francesca Rochberg , Ph.D. (1980: Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago) is Catherine and William L. Magistretti
Distinguished Professor of Near Eastern Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. She has published widely in the history of Babylonian celestial divination, astrology, and astronomy.



Contributors are:
Siam Bhayro, Alan C. Bowen, Lis Brack-Bernsen, Giuseppe Cambiano, Nicola F. Denzey-Lewis, Dennis W. Duke, James C. Evans, Klaus Geus, Gerd Grasshoff, Dorian G. Greenbaum, Robert Hannah, Stephan Heilen, Wolfgang Hübner, Hermann Hunger, Helen Jacobus, Richard L. Kremer, Alexandra von Lieven, Stamatina Mastorakou, Clemency Montelle, Mathieu Ossendrijver, Tracey E. Rhill, Francesca Rochberg, Micah T. Ross, Alfred Schmid, Nathan C. Sidoli, Anthony Spalinger, Glen Van Brumelen, James C. Vanderkam, James Wilberding, Christian Wilder

Reviews

"This is an absolutely wonderful book, well-written and a pleasure to read. It is generally based on the most recent research and very informative without being inaccessible to the layman. That the field of ancient astronomy is under rapid development is evident from the bibliography alone. [...] It is generously supplied with interesting and relevant illustrations and its structure and composition take the reader by the hand so that it can be read easily from cover to cover. The individual chapters can also be read on their own, and the “Historical Glossary” and indices make it an excellent handbook as well. It provides a status quaestionis in a way which is at the same time accessible to the interested layman and contains a brilliant survey and much new to be learnt for the specialist in any parts of the vast topic covered as well." - Ulla Koch, in: BMCR 2021.04.23

"This is an excellent and eminently useful volume, surveying and advancing the state of the field in a very welcome, cross-cultural and interdisciplinary format. Corners of this field seem to have been developing rather quickly in the last decade or two, and scholars will be grateful to the editors and authors for the timely appearance and impressive scope of this large book." - Daryn Lehoux, in: The Classical Review 71.2 442–444