There is little evidence on the subject of Ptolemy's ancestry, apart from what can be drawn from the details of his name ( see above ); however modern scholars refer to Abu Ma ’ shar ’ s account as erroneous, and it is no longer doubted that the astronomer who wrote the Almagest also wrote the Tetrabiblos as its astrological counterpart.

( The most recent edition of the Greek text of Ptolemy's astrological work, based on earlier editions by F. Boll and E.

Ptolemy's treatise on astrology, the Tetrabiblos, was the most popular astrological work of antiquity and also enjoyed great influence in the Islamic world and the medieval Latin West.

The astronomical predictions of Ptolemy's geocentric model were used to prepare astrological charts for over 1500 years.

Pontano's Latin translation of Claudius Ptolemy's astrological work, the Tetrabiblos ( or Quadripartitum ) was first printed in 1535 as part of Joachim Camerarius first portfolio edition that also included the Greek text.

The body of astrological knowledge by the 2nd century AD is described in Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos, a work that was responsible for astrology's successful spread across Europe and the Middle East, and remained a reference for almost seventeen centuries as later traditions made few substantial changes to its core teachings.

Ptolemy's work the Tetrabiblos laid the basis of the Western astrological tradition, and as a source of later reference is said to have " enjoyed almost the authority of a Bible among the astrological writers of a thousand years or more ".

Besides outlining the techniques of astrological practice, Ptolemy's philosophical defense of the subject as a natural, beneficial study helped secure theological tolerance towards astrology in Western Europe during the Medieval era.

The work's enduring significance is attributed to several factors: Ptolemy's reputation as one of the greatest philosophers and scientists of the ancient world, the text's astrological importance as one of the oldest complete manuals on that subject, and the unprecedented order and quality of Ptolemy's astrological explanations.

Equally, Ptolemy's narrative was drawn upon by later philosophers and astronomers, such as Johannes Kepler who used similar examples and the same order of arguments to explain the physical foundation of some astrological claims.

Whereas other ancient astrological writers gave their emphasis to the astrological interpretation of such definitions ( for example, in describing how tropical signs are indicative of quickly changing situations ), Ptolemy's focus is notably different ; given to the astronomical and philosophical factors that underlie the definitions rather than their astrological meaning in practice.

Some commentators have viewed Ptolemy's comparatively dispassionate approach towards points of astrological contention as reason to suppose he was more interested in the theoretical principles than the actual practice of astrology.

This was not simpler but much more difficult than exercises within Ptolemy's astronomy.

That such deficiencies existed within Ptolemy's theory was not discovered de novo by Copernicus.

Ptolemy's view of Germans in the region indicates that the tribal structure had lost its grip in the Black Forest region and was replaced by a canton structure.

α CVn was Ptolemy's " 28th of Ursa Major ", and β CVn was his " 29th of Ursa Major ".

When the Greek astronomer Ptolemy's Almagest was translated from Greek to Arabic, the translator Johannitius ( following Alberuni ) did not know the Greek word and rendered it as the nearest-looking Arabic word, writing العصى ذات الكلاب in ordinary unvowelled Arabic text " al -` aşā dhāt al-kullāb ", which means " the spearshaft having a hook ".

The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.

It was shown on Ptolemy's map as the " Golden Khersonese ".

This was so that when the plaster with Ptolemy's name fell off, Sostratus's name would be visible in the stone.

No particular animal was associated with it until the Latin translation of Ptolemy's work identified it with the wolf.

Indeed, prior to the reintroduction of Ptolemy's Geography to Europe around 1400, there was no single convention in the West.

The writer was attempting to square information gleaned from Portuguese trade along the coast with Ptolemy's world map.

It would have suited custom if the first of Ptolemy's family to become a citizen ( whether he or an ancestor ) took the nomen from a Roman called Claudius who was responsible for granting citizenship.

Ptolemy's model, like those of his predecessors, was geocentric and was almost universally accepted until the appearance of simpler heliocentric models during the scientific revolution.

The maps in surviving manuscripts of Ptolemy's Geographia, however, date only from about 1300, after the text was rediscovered by Maximus Planudes.

In the 15th century Ptolemy's Geographia began to be printed with engraved maps ; the earliest printed edition with engraved maps was produced in Bologna in 1477, followed quickly by a Roman edition in 1478 ( Campbell, 1987 ).

( Ptolemy's own latitude was in error by 14 '.

Much of the content of the Tetrabiblos was collected from earlier sources ; Ptolemy's achievement was to order his material in a systematic way, showing how the subject could, in his view, be rationalized.

George of Trebizond who was Bessarion's philosophical rival had recently produced a new Latin translation of Ptolemy's Almagest from the Greek, which Bessarion, correctly, regarded as inaccurate and badly translated, so he asked Peuerbach to produce a new one.

The year is stated as the ninth year of Ptolemy V's reign ( equated with 197 / 196 BC ), and it is confirmed by naming four priests who officiated in that same year: Aëtus son of Aëtus was priest of the divine cults of Alexander the Great and the five Ptolemies down to Ptolemy V himself ; his three colleagues, named in turn in the inscription, led the worship of Berenice Euergetis ( wife of Ptolemy III ), Arsinoe Philadelpha ( wife and sister of Ptolemy II ) and Arsinoe Philopator, mother of Ptolemy V. However, a second date is also given in the Greek and hieroglyphic texts, corresponding to, the official anniversary of Ptolemy's coronation.

The star catalog of Hipparchus ( 2nd century BC ) included 1020 stars and was used to assemble Ptolemy's star catalogue.

Moreover, he found that Ptolemy's predictions for Jupiter at the same time were quite accurate.

Ptolemy's Almagest, although a brilliant treatise on theoretical astronomy combined with a practical handbook for computation, nevertheless includes many compromises to reconcile discordant observations.

Ptolemy is thought to have ordered the death to ingratiate himself with Caesar, thus becoming an ally of Rome, to which Egypt was in debt at the time, though this act proved a miscalculation on Ptolemy's part.

Without any suitable island matching Ptolemy's Counus Island, it is also thought that the documented island has been lost or reduced to an insignificant sandbank by subsidence and the constant effects of the sea since Ptolemy's time.

He produced the first printed Greek edition of Ptolemy's astrology text, the Tetrabiblos, in 1535.

He revised Ptolemy's Geography and wrote on astronomy and astrology.

Ptolemy's Almagest was an authoritative text on astronomy for more than a thousand years, and the Tetrabiblos, its companion volume, was equally influential in astrology, the study of the effects of astronomical cycles on earthly matters.

Of this, Lynn Thorndike, in his History of Magic and Experimental Science, writes: " Only the opponents of astrology appear to have remained ignorant of the Tetrabiblos, continuing to make criticisms of the art which do not apply to Ptolemy's presentation of it or which had been specifically answered by him ".

This is taken to demonstrate Ptolemy's view that astronomy and astrology are complementary studies, so that whilst astrology is less self-sufficient and factual, its employment makes the practice of astronomy more useful.

Book II presents Ptolemy's treatise on mundane astrology.