THEON OF SMYRNA’S ASTRONOMY

DISSERTATION.

PART ONE.

CHAPTER I.

ON THE TIME, LIFE, AND WORKS OF THEON OF SMYRNA.

§ 1.

We know very little about the author of the work that we are now publishing, besides what he himself has taught us. He is known merely by name in Suidas¹ and Eudocia² as Theon Smyrnaeus philosophus Theon of Smyrna, philosopher. In the manuscript codices of the work which Bullialdus first published, the author is named Theon Smyrnaeus platonicus Theon of Smyrna, Platonist; in the Parisian codex of Astronomy, he is named merely Theon Smyrnaeus. As for what Bullialdus³, G. J. Vossius⁴, Weidlerus⁵, and others have brought forward from the testimonies of the ancients regarding him, we do not believe that all of these truly pertain to him.

¹ See under the entry: Theon.
² See under the entry: Theon, p. 229 of Villoison’s edition.
³ In the edition of Theon’s book on arithmetic, To the Reader, pp. 8-9.
⁴ On the Mathematical Sciences, X, 3, p. 38.
⁵ History of Astronomy, VII, 11, p. 175.