For other Theons (some of whom also worked in Alexandria) see
TheonTheon (Greek: Θέων, gen.: Θέωνος; ca. 335 – ca. 405) was a Greek[1] scholar and mathematician who lived in Alexandria, Egypt. He edited and arranged Euclid's Elements and Ptolemy's Handy Tables, as well as writing various commentaries. His daughter Hypatia also won fame as a mathematician.
The biographical tradition (Suda) defines Theon as "the man from the Mouseion"; actually, both the Library of Alexandria and the Mouseion may have been destroyed a century before by the Emperor Aurelian during his struggle against Zenobia. Some scholars think that they were closed by the patriarch Theophilus on order of the Christian Roman emperor Theodosius I in 391. Theon was the father of the mathematician Hypatia whose murder was attributed by Socrates Scholasticus to "political jealousy" which instigated mob violence.
Theon's most durable achievement may be his edition of Euclid's Elements, published around 364 and authoritative into the 19th century. The bulk of Theon's work, however, consisted of commentaries on important works by his Hellenistic predecessors. These included a "conferences" (Synousiai) on Euclid, and commentaries (Exegeseis) on the Handy Tables and Almagest of Ptolemy, and on the technical poet Aratus.
In one of the commentaries on the Handy Tables, Theon states that certain (unnamed) ancient astrologers believed that the precession of the equinoxes, rather than being a steady unending motion, instead reverses direction every 640 years, and that the last reversal had been in 158 BC.[2] Theon describes but did not endorse this theory. This idea inspired Thābit ibn Qurra in the 9th century to create the theory of trepidation to explain a variation which he (incorrectly) believed was affecting the rate of precession.[2]
- ^ Tihon, Anne, "Theon of Alexandria and Ptolemy's Handy Tables", In Ancient Astronomy and Celestial Divination. Dibner Institute studies in the history of science and technology. Edited by N.M. Swerdlow. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1999, p. 357. G. J. Toomer, "Theon of Alexandria," in Dictionary of Scientific Biography 13: 321–325. T L Heath, A History of Greek Mathematics (2 Vols.) (Oxford, 1921).[page needed] O Neugebauer, A history of ancient mathematical astronomy (New York, 1975).[page needed] A Rome, Commentaires de Pappus et de Théon d'Alexandrie sur l'Almageste Tome III. Théon d'Alexandrie (Rome, 1943).[page needed] A Tihon (ed.), Le 'Grand commentaire' de Théon d'Alexandrie aux 'Tables faciles' de Ptolémée Livre I (Vatican City, 1985).[page needed] A Tihon (ed.), Le 'Grand commentaire' de Théon d'Alexandrie aux 'Tables faciles' de Ptolémée Livre II, III (Vatican City, 1991).[page needed]
- ^ a b James Evans, (1998), The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy, page 276
[edit] References
- O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Theon of Alexandria", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews, http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Theon.html .
- G. J. Toomer's, "Theon of Alexandria," in Dictionary of Scientific Biography 13:321–325.
- Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). "Theon"
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Alexandria, Theon Of |
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335 |
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