Cleomedes. On the Circular Motions of the Celestial Bodies 
Introduction, Russian translation and notes 
 Cover Image

Клеомед. Учение о круговращении небесных тел. Предисловие, перевод, комментарий
Cleomedes. On the Circular Motions of the Celestial Bodies Introduction, Russian translation and notes

Author(s): Andrey Shetnikov
Subject(s): Philosophy
Published by: Новосибирский государственный университет
Keywords: scientific manual; Greek science; astronomy; measuring techniques

Summary/Abstract: Translated into Russian for the first time, Cleomedes’ On the Circular Motions of the Celestial Bodies is a basic astronomy textbook in two volumes. His author criticizes the Epicureans and approves of the Stoics. The work is valued for preserving much of Posidonius' lost writings on astronomy. Cleomedes accurately discusses lunar eclipses, notes that the absolute size of many stars may exceed that of the Sun, argues that the sun appears farther away on the horizon than in the zenith, and therefore larger (since its angular size is constant). This book is the original source for the well-known story of how Eratosthenes measured the Earth's circumference.

  • Issue Year: IV/2010
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 349-415
  • Page Count: 64
  • Language: Russian