Tetrabiblios

Description

In Tetrabiblos, a core text in the history of astrology, the preeminent ancient astronomer Ptolemy (c. 100 178 CE) treats the practical use of astronomical knowledge: making predictions about individuals lives and the outcome of human affairs. The Tetrabiblos of the famous astronomer and geographer Claudius Ptolemaeus (ca. 100-178 CE) of Egypt consists of four books, the title given in some manuscripts meaning 'Mathematical Treatise in Four Books', in others 'The Prognostics addressed to Syrus'. The subject is astrology, which in Ptolemy's time as down to the Renaissance was fused as a respectable science with astronomy. Translations and commentaries are few, and only three Greek texts had been printed (all in the 16th century) before the present one and the one begun by F. Boll and finished by Emilie Boer in 1940.