Ptolemy's Doctrine of the Terms and Its Reception

Abstract

This contribution is devoted to Ptolemy's astrological treatise which is commonly called Tetrabiblos (“treatise in four books”), a Greek surname to be found in various branches of the medieval manuscript tradition and used by most editors starting with the first edition by J. Camerarius (1535).1 The original Greek title, however, seems to have been Apotelesmatiká (biblía), “(books on) effects,” and I shall follow the authoritative edition of Hübner (1998) in using this.2 The authenticity of this work, which was first questioned by Arabic scholars in the Middle Ages and later also by Western humanists, is now generally acknowledged.3 © 2010, Springer Science+Business Media B.V.