A New View of Early Greek Astronomy

Cultural alterations of Aratus's Phaenomena

“…Even Plato stated that very few understood how the planets moved. 43 However, the three elements, because of their brief mentions in the Phaenomena, are interesting because Gee takes them and demonstrates how the later Roman tradition lays hold of them. The real importance of the planets lies in the meaning of the word, rather than in their actual movements.…”

‘It Makes No Difference’: Optics and Natural Philosophy in Late Antiquity

“…52 Duhem (1969); Lloyd (1991). Alan Bowen and Bernard Goldstein challenge Simplicius' account of early astronomy: Goldstein and Bowen (1983); Bowen (2002). 53 As Malcolm Wilson noted in private correspondence, this cannot be Philoponus' entire answer, since he stresses the problems with the opsis account.…”

Commentary 01 on Goldstein 1980

“…On some claims that I accepted in 1980 because they were part of standard story, I am now much more sceptical, notably those concerning the roles of Eudoxus and Hipparchus for, in both cases, their contributions are only known from later sources that are susceptible to various interpretations and whose reliability is often dubious (Bowen and Goldstein, 1991; Goldstein and Bowen, 1983; 1991). A detailed discussion of these matters would now require a monograph.…”