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Pherecydes of Syros’ work is difficult to understand because of its fragmentary nature. A previously unexplored perspective on his work is to analyze how it was understood and used in Ptolemaic Alexandria, particularly by Eratosthenes and Callimachus. Eratosthenes’ distinction between Pherecydes of Syros and Pherecydes of Athens (DL 1.119) has been used as a key piece of evidence that those two authors are, in fact, distinct. However, there has been little discussion of Eratosthenes’ interest in these authors outside of that statement. Callimachus’ interest in Pherecydes has also been ignored by both scholars of Pherecydes and scholars of Alexandrian poetry (except for brief references). Through this examination, I argue that Pherecydes of Syros was an important figure in discussions about the development of prose in Ptolemaic Alexandria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents texts recovered by post-processing of multispectral images from the fifth- or sixth-century underwriting of the palimpsest Codex Climaci Rescriptus. Texts identified include the Anonymous II Proemium to Aratus' Phaenomena , parts of Eratosthenes' Catasterisms , Aratus' Phaenomena lines 71–4 and 282–99 and previously unknown text, including some of the earliest astronomical measurements to survive in any Greek manuscript. Codex Climaci Rescriptus also contains at least three astronomical drawings. These appear to form part of an illustrated manuscript, with considerable textual value not merely on the basis of its age but also of its readings. The manuscript undertexts show significant overlap with the Φ Edition, postulated as ancestor of the various Latin Aratea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eratosthenes arrested Polemarchus, following the orders of the Thirty to seize the money of the metics, and then he brought him to the Council, where he was condemned to death without a proper trial. Eratosthenes could not deny that he had arrested Polemarchus but he hoped to be acquitted by distorting the recent past, which the jurors ignored in all its details. An examination of the questions and answers of Lysias and Eratosthenes, and an assessment of their arguments shows that Lysias was right to regard his opponent as guilty, but the latter still had chances to be acquitted.

In a mythographic scholion to Homer's Iliad is reported the story of the birth, death and catasterism of the mythical hero Orion, with the attribution to the hellenistic poet Euphorion of Chalcis (frg. 101 poWell). However, a closer consideration of the narrative found in the scholion shows that this is in reality derived, perhaps via an ancient commentary to Aratus' Phaenomena (where the same story of Orion's death and catasterism is narrated for the first time), from Eratosthenes' Catasterismi, a mythographical handbook, now lost in its original form, probably conceived as a parallel text to Aratus' poem. The evidence provided by the homeric scholion cannot therefore be considered totally reliable, and does not allow to establish with absolute certainty whether and how Euphorion treated the myth of Orion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tenth prefatory letter of Pollux' Onomasticon transmits two otherwise unattested pieces of information concerning the existence of an anonymous commentary on Xenophon and of a treatise by Eratosthenes of Cyrene entitled Σκευογραφικός. The corrupt state of the text in the manuscript tradition, which the standard edition by E. Bethe has not improved, has so far hindered the full understanding of this passage. This article (a) argues that two corrections should be introduced in 10.2–3 Bethe; (b) suggests that the anonymous commentary on Xenophon quoted by Pollux concerned not only the Περὶ ἱππικῆς, as traditionally assumed, but also the Ἱππαρχικός; and (c) re-examines the evidence supporting the hypothesis that Eratosthenes' Σκευογραφικός was not part of the better-known Περὶ τῆς ἀρχαίας κωμῳδίας, but an independent work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"On the Measurement of the Earth" continues the tradition, which dates back to ancient Greece and the time of Eratosthenes, of works on geodesy. The title is that of the lost work of Eratosthenes on the subject. Cherishing our planet through attention to its dimensions allows us to "know our place" and enjoy the wisdom that comes from this awareness. That the Earth has an ellipsoidal, not spherical, shape is well known. While Chimborazo's resulting status as the point farthest from the Earth's centre is generally understood, many other implications are unappreciated or hitherto undocumented. These include consideration of how to define the height of a mountain, calculation of the place closest to the Earth's centre, a formula for calculating distance to the Earth's centre for any point, a list of summits based on distance from the centre of the Earth and corrected for the geoid, calculation of the Earth's fastest-moving points, and new "Seven Summits" lists. The new concept of terrahelion allows calculation of the land point on the Earth's surface that comes closest to the Sun each year at perihelion. The insights that result from these new considerations of planetary shape provide new exploration opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Latin-American Journal of Physics Education is the property of Latin-American Physics Education Network and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article discusses Lysias’Against Eratosthenesas an ancient Athenian instance of the superior orders plea, a line of defence made notorious during the Nuremberg trials, which in turn became the cornerstone of modern war crime legislation. Whereas the pre-Nuremberg jurisdiction largely embraced the principle of superior responsibility, whereby a subordinate executing criminal orders was not to be held liable for them, the trials of the Nazi war criminals brought about a complete reversal of this doctrine. While remaining faithful to the spirit of the Nuremberg jurisdiction, the subsequent legislative acts (which dealt, among other things, with the atrocities committed in the former Yugoslavia) sought to further elaborate its underlying principle of absolute liability, in order to precisely determine the question of guilt and innocence. I argue that despite the close relationship between modern legal systems and Roman law, which fully embraced the doctrine of superior responsibility, it is in the juridical thought of ancient Athens that one finds the archetype of contemporary war crime legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proposal I make for the restoration of fr. 22 Powell of the Erigone by Eratosthenes faithfully rewrites the manuscript tradition and does not conflict with the metre, as the line Ἰκαριοῖ, etc. (see fr. 4 R.) is balanced, thanks to the trihemimeral caesura and the bucolic diaeresis. To further my argument, I cite a series of hexameters from both earlier epic as well as that of the Hellenistic era, where the secondary caesurae (trihemimeral + hephthemimeral or bucolic) are either found alone or are reinforced, as the main caesura is absent or cannot be applied given the enclitic, preposition, and (sometimes) elision. Starting from the surviving line, I argue that in the Erigone mention was certainly made of the origins of tragedy, which are located in Attica. Eratosthenes drew from a preexisting theory and, through his authority, made it the prevailing one. This can be seen from a plethora of similar evidence, in both later Greek and Latin authors and scholars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article attempts to shed some light on the origins of Ptolemy’s map of the world, which remains a mystery. The premise is that Ptolemy and other ancient geographers largely drew on the same or a similar pool of sources and common beliefs. Similarities between them can, therefore, give us a key to understanding the prehistory of Ptolemy’s map. Comparison of distances on his map with those given by other sources leads to the conclusion that a large area of the map, approximately from the Bosporus to the Indus, reproduced Eratosthenes’ geographical system, with linear distances converted to angular degrees according to Eratosthenes’ own scale. It is argued that this area represents a remnant of an earlier version of Ptolemy’s map. Analysis of latitude and longitude reveals notable differences between Ptolemy’s map and Eratosthenes’ ideas concerning the latitude of Babylon and the Alexandrian prime meridian, and the impact this seems to have had on the shape of neighbouring regions is noted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Andrej I. Schetnikov (ΣΙΓΜΑ: The Centre for Educational Projects, Novosibirsk), on the basis of testimonies by Nicomachus of Gerasa, Theon of Smyrna and other later authors, reconstructs an algorithm of developing all the numerals (provisionally called the ‘algorithm of Nicomachus’) and demonstrates how this algorithm could be found in the background of the so-called Plato’s ideal numbers. Besides, he suggests that the Platonicus by Erathosthenes, preserved in a fragmentary form by Theon, could be used as a supplementary source for reconstructing the content of the famous lecture of Plato On the Good.

A certain Augustan ‘rehabilitation’ of Bacchus may be traced in Virgil’s Georgics, in response to the god’s role in the self-presentation of Mark Antony, especially with reference to the movement on the worship of Bacchus in Book 2. An analysis of the ritual elements is offered here. Nonetheless, certain references to Bacchus in the Georgics suggest that he is a volatile symbol, difficult to control: some of these reside in Virgil’s allusions to Eratosthenes’ Erigone.

Recent discovery of fragments of Aratus' and Eratosthenes' texts on constellations, found in the palimpsest Codex Climaci Rescriptus, are briefly reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New free-air gravity and magnetic maps of the Eratosthenes Seamount and its vicinity were regenerated from potential field data. Stages of data processing are power spectrum, upward continuation, filtering on the free-air gravity anomaly data. RTP, pseudo-gravity transformation map, power spectrum, upward continuation, filtering, AS, and HGAS were applied on the magnetic data. A HGAS map shows the images and locations of the Eratosthenes magnetic body. Spectral analysis of the gravity and magnetic anomalies indicates that there is an elliptical elongated structure of the Eratosthenes Seamount in the width of approx. 86 km NW-SE orientation and in the length of 138 km NE-SW orientation, with a strike of N40°E and inclined to NW. It is considered that 22.49 ± 0.08 km obtained from power spectrum of the gravity data may be related to the crust thickness. Also, 15.67 ± 0.02 km obtained from power spectrum of the magnetic data is considered to be related to the magmatic basement of the Eratosthenes Seamount. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some remarks are dedicated to the paradosis and the text of fr. 10 Powell, belonging to the lost Hymn to Hermes of Eratosthenes. Particularly, the meaning of the synonymous pair χερv...τις ἔριθoς (v. 2) is discussed and a conjectural emendation of ἔριθoς is eventually suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eratosthenes (circa 276 B.C.–194 B.C.) is considered a famous scientist of ancient Greece. He was a mathematician and geographer. Born in Cyrene, now Shahhat (Libya), he was appointed to teach the son of the Egyptian King Ptolemy III Euergetes. In 240 B.C., he became the third chief librarian the Great Library of Alexandria. Eratosthenes laid basics for mathematical geography. He was the first to calculate precisely in an original way the Earth meridian's length between Syene and Alexandria. For this purpose he used perpendicular projection of the sun rays during summer solstice (06.22) near the town Syene, now Aswan. His estimation of the length of the Earth's radius (6300 km) is close to present estimation (6371 km). He calculated that a year possesses 365.25 days. He also emphasized the significance of maps as the most important thing in geography. Eratosthenes was the first one to use the term “geographem” to describe the Earth. In this way he legitimized the term of geography. He also put into system geographical information from various sources in order to obtain a map of the world as precise as possible.

Abstract: In his work On the Ancient Comedy, fr. 25 Strecker, Eratosthenes of Cyrene gives a positive appraisal of a metaphorical play on words by the comic poet Cratinus (fr. 54 Kassel / Austin), describing it as εἰς τὸ εἶδος οὐκ ἀρύθμως παίζειν. In this paper, it is argued that this expression, which is in conformity with Aristotelian theorization on metaphor, could also imply an enunciative reminiscence of the judgement given by Aristotle, who held that the irony of the poets of the Archaia was based on αἰσχρολογία, whereas contemporary poets preferred ἐμμελῶς παίζειν ( NE 4.14, 1128a 9). Some ancient explications transmitted in the scholia to Aristophanes' comedies seem to testify to the influence or reception of Eratosthenes' attitude in this regard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Comparative Literature / Primerjalna Književnost is the property of Slovenian Comparative Literature Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Eratosthenes (circa 276 B.C.-194 B.C.) is considered a famous scientist of ancient Greece. He was a mathematician and geographer. Born in Cyrene, now Shahhat (Libya), he was appointed to teach the son of the Egyptian King Ptolemy III Euergetes. In 240 B.C., he became the third chief librarian the Great Library of Alexandria. Eratosthenes laid basics for mathematical geography. He was the first to calculate precisely in an original way the Earth meridian's length between Syene and Alexandria. For this purpose he used perpendicular projection of the sun rays during summer solstice (06.22) near the town Syene, now Aswan. His estimation of the length of the Earth's radius (6300 km) is close to present estimation (6371 km). He calculated that a year possesses 365.25 days. He also emphasized the significance of maps as the most important thing in geography. Eratosthenes was the first one to use the term "geographem" to describe the Earth. In this way he legitimized the term of geography. He also put into system geographical information from various sources in order to obtain a map of the world as precise as possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the fifth century B.C. Herodotus connected the histories of East and West. In the 3rd century B.C. Berossus provided a chronological framework for the history of Babylon to Alexander, Manetho left stories of Egyptian kings and lists of royal names, and Eratosthenes resolved contradictions among local Greek chronologies with a scheme based on the Olympiads. In the 1st century B.C. Diodorus proposed how to reduce the fabulously long reigns assigned in ancient sources to the first kings. Several Jewish authors used biblical data to calculate chronologies from creation, and Jubilees and Josephus made connections with data of other peoples. In the 2nd century AD, Ptolemy based his Canon of Kings, correct to the year, on eclipses. At the century's end no one had yet elaborated a universal chronology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prime number generation is vital to prime factorization and primality testing, and is also used for generating random numbers. Prime number generation gives a better understanding of the fascinating nature of prime numbers which helps to generate large primes which are used in public key cryptosystems for e-security. Further, prime number generation involves heavy number crunching, thus it is also used as a benchmark for comparing the hardware performance and the capabilities of compilers. Prime number generation programs are among the choicest programs for demonstrating programming basics to beginners. The present paper thus discusses some commonly used techniques of generating prime numbers employing the sieve theory. It begins with the famous Sieve of Eratosthenes (SoE) and discusses some of its efficient extensions. The paper also provides an overview of the Pritchard's wheel sieve technique. Finally we provide a comparative complexity analysis of the SoE and its quoted extensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inquiry-based science education is currently receiving a consensus as a pedagogy to teach science at primary and middle school levels, with the goal to reach all children and youngsters, no matter what their future professional choices will be. By the same token, it also greatly increases the fraction of the school population in which future technicians, engineers and sciences could be recruited for further training. La main à la pâte is the name of the action undertaken by the French Académie des Sciences to develop inquiry in France, and then in many collaborating countries. The focus is on science as a whole, and not on particular disciplines such as physics, biology, and so on, since it is the understanding of scientific method and use of evidence which is at the heart of inquiry. Yet, astronomy is offering so many opportunities to demonstrate the scientific method that La main à la pâte has developed a number of inquiry activities in this field, which are presented here, such as Measuring the Earth, Calendars and cultures, the use of One Laptop per Child for Moon observations, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We perform a comparative study of the evolution of the most important methods for geographical, carto-graphical and astronomical measurements developed by ancient Greek scientists and philosophers until the time of Eratosthenes. It seems that the novel geometrical method invented by Eratosthenes for the measurement of the size of the Earth did not appear suddenly but was the final outcome of long-lasting intellectual activity. It is shown that Anaximander, Pytheas, Eudoxus of Cnidus, Dicaearchus, Aristotle and Archimedes, the most famous ancient Greek philosopher astronomers and geographers before Eratosthenes, affected his thinking and contributed to his discovery. Furthermore, we briefly describe and explain the method of Eratosthenes, its significance, new errors that intruded into Eratosthenes’ measurement, as well as its application for the determination of the shape and the size of the Earth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]