With my colleague Anne Tihon (Louvain la Neuve, Belgium) we have produced Volume One of our edition and commentary of Ptolemy’s Handy Tables.

Peeters Catalogue PIOL 59a = Vol. 1a , Peeters Catalogue PIOL 59b = Vol. 1b

Summary of Volume 1a:

Les Tables Faciles de Ptolémée ont exercé, dans l’histoire de l’astronomie ancienne, une influence au moins égale à la Syntaxe mathématique (Almageste). Cette oeuvre comprenait un petit manuel expliquant le mode d’emploi de ces tables, ainsi que les tables elles-mêmes. Si le manuel a déjà fait l’objet d’une édition critique par Heiberg, dans les Opera astronomica minora de Ptolémée (1907), les tables elles-mêmes ne sont accessibles que dans l’ancienne édition, peu fiable, de l’abbé Nicolas Halma (1822 -1825). Le présent ouvrage constitue le premier volume d’une édition critique des tables astronomiques.

Le volume PIOL 59a comprend d’abord une longue introduction expliquant l’histoire de ces tables et les principes suivis pour l’édition. Celle-ci concerne les tables d’ascensions droites et obliques (A1-A2), ainsi que les tables d’ascensions spéciales pour le climat de Byzance (B1). L’édition est suivie d’un apparat critique, comprenant également quelques papyri et un fragment palimpseste du Vat. syr. 623.

The Handy Tables of Ptolemy have exercised, in the history of ancient astronomy, an influence at least equal to that of the Mathematical Syntaxis (Almagest). This work includes a short manual explaining how to use these tables, as well as the tables themselves. If the manual has already been the subject of a critical edition by Heiberg in the Opera astronomica minora of Ptolemy (1907), the tables themselves are only available in the old and rather unreliable edition of the Abbé Nicolas Halma (1822-1825). The present work constitutes the first volume of a critical edition of the astronomical tables. Volume PIOL 59a includes first of all a long introduction explaining the history of these tables and the principles followed in the edition. This includes the tables of right and oblique ascension (A1-A2), as well as the tables of ascensions for the climate of Byzantium (B1). The edition is followed by a critical apparatus, which includes also several papyri and a fragment of a palimpsest from Vat.syr. 623.

Volume PIOL 59b is devoted to the transcription of the tables and a commentary. The transcription is accompanied by an apparatus which provides where necessary the correctly calculated entry. The commentary provides a study of the chronological background of the Era of Philip, a mathematical commentary on the tables of ascension (including the equation of time), and in a series appendices a review of Syriac and Arabic texts bearing on the Handy Tables.

This edition has enjoyed the support of the Union Académique Internationale under the project Corpus des Astronomes Byzantins.