Prolegomena mathematica : : from Apollonius of Perga to late Neoplatonism : with an appendix on Pappus and the history of Platonism / / by Jaap Mansfeld.

• Superior document: Philosophia antiqua, v. 80
• Author: Mansfeld, Jaap.
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, Boston : : Brill,, 1998.
• Year of Publication: 1998
• Language: English
• Series: Philosophia Antiqua 80.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (vi, 178 pages).

This is the first study to deal with the history of Greek mathematics - starting with Appollonius and including astronomy - as part of the history of literary culture. It attempts to find out how mathematical works were presented by original authors (e.g. Ptolemy), and introduced and explained by commentators (e.g. Pappus who is at the centre of this enquiry, Eutocius, and prolegomena by late Anonymi). The manner in which mathematical treatises were presented and studied is entirely comparable to that practised in e.g. philosophy, medicine, biblical and literary studies (see the author's Prolegomena , ( Brill , 1994)). Discussion of introductory issues is a standard feature, and in mathematics the development from the implicitly expressed to the explicitly expressed and from there to scholastic routine is the same as in these other fields.

Table of Contents

Preliminary material -- PRELIMINARIES -- PAPPUS’ COLLECTIO -- COMMENTARIES ON EUCLID, THE SCHOLIA ON EUCLID’S ELEMENTS AND PAPPUS’ COMMENTARY ON BOOK X -- APOLLONIUS’ PROEMS AND EUTOCIUS’ COMMENTARY -- EUTOCIUS’ COMMENTARIES ON ARCHIMEDES, AND THE VITA -- HERON OF ALEXANDRIA -- THEON(?)’S PREFACE TO EUCLID’S OPTICA -- MARINUS ON EUCLID’S DATA -- PTOLEMY’S PREFACES -- COMMENTARIES ON PTOLEMY -- NICOMACHUS OF GERASA AND HIS COMMENTATORS -- CONCLUSION -- APPENDIX 1: THE TITLE OF PTOLEMY’S ASTROLOGICAL TREATISE -- APPENDIX 2: PAPPUS AND THE HISTORY OF PLATONISM -- COMPLEMENTARY NOTES -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX LOCORUM POTIORUM -- INDEX RERUM ET NOMINUM ANTIQUORUM -- PHILOSOPHIA ANTIQUA: A SERIES OF STUDIES ON ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY by J. MANSFELD , D.T. RUNIA and J.C.M. VAN WINDEN.