ENGLISH

Ptolemy Harmonics: Translation and Commentary

By Jon Solomon

Book information

Publisher
Brill Academic Publishers
Year
1999
ISBN
9004115919, 9789004115910
Open Library ID
OL16969098M
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
9 MB (9352451 bytes)
Series
Mnemosyne Supplements 203
Pages
192\115
Orientation
no
Scanned
yes
Time added
2011-08-31 04:54:40

Description

Ptolemy's comprehensive treatises on astronomy and geography were influential for nearly two millennia. Equally influential was his treatise on harmonics, the ancient science which combined and brought to completion the study of philosophy and science. This volume offers a comprehensive English translation and commentary of Ptolemy's Harmonics. The treatise begins with Ptolemy's study of pitches and intervals, for which he extracts both an idealized musical scale and a new acoustical tool. After discussing modulation, he expands his horizons by applying musical intervals to the human soul and celestial bodies, ultimately describing a cosmic harmony. The English translation faithfully reproduces Ptolemy's style and includes all the charts surviving in the manuscript tradition. The commentary offers a full exegesis of the text, loci paralleli, and citations of modern scholarly sources.

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