Pseudo-Ptolemy

Pseudo-Ptolemy is a designation used for the authors of pseudepigrapha that appeared under the name of the astronomer and geographer Ptolemy. These are not authentic works of Ptolemy but were either forged in his name or were mistakenly taken to be his. Although Ptolemy wrote in Greek, Pseudo-Ptolemaic works are sometimes known only from translations or purported translations in Arabic and Latin. Many are of medieval origin.[1]

Works in Greek

  • Centiloquium, a Latin translation from the Arabic Kitab al-Thamara, with the Greek version Karpos being either the original or a translation from Arabic[1]
  • De speculis, translated from a Greek original by William of Moerbeke[2]
  • De temporum mutatione, a translation from Greek often included as a chapter of the Latin Judicia[3]
  • Musica[1][4]

Works in both Arabic and Latin

  • Maqala fi Dhawat al-dhawa'ib,[5] known in Latin as De cometis, a work on the nine types of comets[6]
  • Opus imaginum or De imaginibus super facies signorum,[7][8] the fragmentary Arabic Kitab al-Suwar[9]

Arabic pseudepigrapha

  • al-Du'a' al-mustajab[10]
  • Ahkam al-shi'ra l-yamaniyya[11]
  • Kitab al-Ahjar[12]
  • Kitab al-Majalis[13]
  • Kitab Tali' al-mawlud mukhtasar li-l-rijal wa-l-nisa', jointly attributed to Ptolemy and "those wise Indians who are with him"[14]
  • Taqwim al-shi'ra l-yamaniyya, jointly attributed to Ptolemy, Hermes Trismegistus and al-Hakimi[15]
  • Tawali' al-buruj, jointly attributed to Ptolemy and Balaam[16]

Latin pseudepigrapha

  • Archanum magni Dei de reductione geomancie ad orbem, an anonymous Christian text dedicated to an unnamed king of Castile but describing itself as a revelation of God to the Arab king Ptolemy[17]
  • Canon Ptolomei et Pictagore de diversis eventibus secundum naturas planetarum, jointly attributed to Ptolemy and Pythagoras,[18]
  • De motibus et iudiciis planetarum[19]
  • De occultatis, a short text attributed to Ptolemy in Mashallah ibn Athari's Book of Interpretations[20]
  • Dixerunt Ptholomeus et Hermes quod locus Lune, a short text often attached to the Latin Centiloquium as a chapter[21]
  • Inerrantium stellarum significationes[22]
  • Judicia, a work usually misattributed to Ptolemy but sometimes to Aristotle[23]
  • Liber de compositione universalis astrolabii, claims to be a translation from Arabic[24]
  • Liber figure[25]
  • Liber de impressionibus imaginum, anulorum et sigillorum secundum facies duodecim signorum zodiaci[26]
  • Liber de iudiciis partium, a chapter from Mashallah's Book of Nativities misattributed to Ptolemy in Latin translation[27]
  • Liber proiectionis radiorum stellarum, usually anonymous but in two manuscripts attributed to Ptolemy[28]
  • Liber Ptholomei regis Egiptii, a fragmentary treatise in which Ptolemy is confused with a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty[29]
  • Liber de nativitatibus hominum[30]

References

  1. ^ a b c Alexander Jones, "The Ancient Ptolemy", in D. Juste, B. van Dalen, D. N. Hasse and C. Burnett, eds., Ptolemy's Science of the Stars in the Middle Ages (Brepols, 2020), pp. 13–34, at 15.
  2. ^ Alexander Jones, "Pseudo-Ptolemy, De Speculis", SCIAMVS 2 (2001): 145–186.
  3. ^ David Juste, "Pseudo-Ptolemy, De temporum mutatione", Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus (2025), retrieved 6 February 2026.
  4. ^ Noel M. Swerdlow, "Ptolemy's Harmonics and the 'Tones of the Universe' in the Canobic Inscription", in Charles Burnett, Jan P. Hogendijk, Kim Plofker and Michio Yano, eds., Studies in the History of the Exact Sciences in Honour of David Pingree (Brill, 2004), pp. 137–180, at .
  5. ^ Emanuele Rovati, "Pseudo-Ptolemy, Maqāla fī Dhawāt al-dhawāʾib", Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus (2025), retrieved 6 February 2026.
  6. ^ David Juste, "Pseudo-Ptolemy, De cometis", Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus (2024), retrieved 6 February 2026.
  7. ^ David Juste, "Pseudo-Ptolemy, De imaginibus super facies signorum", Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus (2025), retrieved 6 February 2026.
  8. ^ Gideon Bohak and Charles Burnett, Thābit ibn Qurra On Talismans and Ps.-Ptolemy On Images 1-9, Together with the Liber prestigiorum Thebidis of Adelard of Bath (SISMEL–Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2021).
  9. ^ Emanuele Rovati, "Pseudo-Ptolemy, Kitāb al-Ṣuwar", Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus (2026), retrieved 6 February 2026.
  10. ^ Emanuele Rovati, "Pseudo-Ptolemy, al-Duʿāʾ al-mustajāb", Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus (2026), retrieved 6 February 2026.
  11. ^ Emanuele Rovati, "Pseudo-Ptolemy, Aḥkām al-shiʿrā l-yamāniyya", Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus (2025), retrieved 6 February 2026.
  12. ^ Emanuele Rovati, "Pseudo-Ptolemy, Kitāb al-Aḥjār", Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus (2025), retrieved 6 February 2026.
  13. ^ Emanuele Rovati, "Pseudo-Ptolemy, Kitāb al-Majālis", Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus (2025), retrieved 6 February 2026.
  14. ^ Emanuele Rovati, "Pseudo-Ptolemy and the Indians, Kitāb Ṭāliʿ al-mawlūd mukhtaṣar li-l-rijāl wa-l-nisāʾ", Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus (2025), retrieved 6 February 2026.
  15. ^ Emanuele Rovati, "Pseudo-Ptolemy, al-Ḥākimī and Hermes, Taqwīm al-shiʿrā l-yamāniyya", Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus (2025), retrieved 6 February 2026.
  16. ^ Emanuele Rovati, "Pseudo-Ptolemy and Balaam, Ṭawāliʿ al-burūj", Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus (2026), retrieved 6 February 2026.
  17. ^ David Juste, "Pseudo-Ptolemy, Archanum magni Dei de reductione geomancie ad orbem", Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus (2023), retrieved 6 February 2026.
  18. ^ David Juste, "Pseudo-Ptolemy, Canon Ptolomei et Pictagore de diversis eventibus secundum naturas planetarum", Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus (2024), retrieved 6 February 2026.
  19. ^ David Juste, "Pseudo-Ptolemy, De motibus et iudiciis planetarum", Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus (2025), retrieved 6 February 2026.
  20. ^ David Juste, "Pseudo-Ptolemy, De occultatis", Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus (2025), retrieved 6 February 2026.
  21. ^ David Juste, "Pseudo-Ptolemy, Dixerunt Ptholomeus et Hermes quod locus Lune...", Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus (2025), retrieved 6 February 2026.
  22. ^ David Juste, "Pseudo-Ptolemy, Inerrantium stellarum significationes", Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus (2024), retrieved 6 February 2026.
  23. ^ David Juste, "Pseudo-Ptolemy, Iudicia", Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus (2025), retrieved 6 February 2026.
  24. ^ David Juste, "Pseudo-Ptolemy, Liber de compositione universalis astrolabii", Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus (2024), retrieved 6 February 2026.
  25. ^ David Juste, "Pseudo-Ptolemy, Liber figure", Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus (2024), retrieved 6 February 2026.
  26. ^ David Juste, "Pseudo-Ptolemy, Liber de impressionibus imaginum, anulorum et sigillorum secundum facies duodecim signorum zodiaci", Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus (2025), retrieved 6 February 2026.
  27. ^ David Juste, "Pseudo-Ptolemy, Liber de iudiciis partium", Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus (2024), retrieved 6 February 2026.
  28. ^ David Juste, "Pseudo-Ptolemy, Liber proiectionis radiorum stellarum", Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus (2025), retrieved 6 February 2026.
  29. ^ David Juste, "Pseudo-Ptolemy, Liber Ptholomei regis Egiptii", Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus (2024), retrieved 6 February 2026.
  30. ^ David Juste, "Pseudo-Ptolemy, Liber de nativitatibus hominum", Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus (2023), retrieved 6 February 2026.
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