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96-629: Kashgari is a Uyghur family name, meaning "the one from city of Kashgar ". Kashgar is a historic city in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous region in China. The name may refer to: Abdur Rahman Kashgari (1912-1971), Scholar of Uyghur background Hamza Kashgari (born 1989), Saudi columnist with Uyghur background Mahmud al-Kashgari , eleventh century Uyghur Turkic scholar from Kashgar [REDACTED] Surname list This page lists people with
192-484: A Special Economic Zone in 2010; it is the only city in western China with this designation. Kashgar also forms a terminus of the Karakoram Highway , the reconstruction of which is considered a major part of the multibillion-dollar China–Pakistan Economic Corridor . The earliest recorded names of the city are Shufu ( 疏附 ) and Shule ( 疏勒 ). Shufu originally referred to Kashgar's old city inhabited by
288-417: A perfect fourth ) and octaves . Ptolemy reviewed standard (and ancient, disused ) musical tuning practice of his day, which he then compared to his own subdivisions of the tetrachord and the octave , which he derived experimentally using a monochord / harmonic canon. The volume ends with a more speculative exposition of the relationships between harmony, the soul ( psyche ), and the planets ( harmony of
384-404: A Colonel [in charge of] Envoys there to direct and protect these countries. Emperor Xuan [73–49 BC] changed this title [in 59 BC] to Protector-General. Emperor Yuan [40–33 BC] installed two Wuji Colonels to take charge of the agricultural garrisons on the frontiers of the king of Nearer Jushi [Turpan]. During the time of Emperor Ai [6 BCE – 1 CE] and Emperor Ping [1 – 5 CE], the principalities of
480-612: A Roman citizen, but was ethnically either a Greek or at least a Hellenized Egyptian. Astronomy was the subject to which Ptolemy devoted the most time and effort; about half of all the works that survived deal with astronomical matters, and even others such as the Geography and the Tetrabiblos have significant references to astronomy. Ptolemy's Mathēmatikē Syntaxis ( Greek : Μαθηματικὴ Σύνταξις , lit. ' Mathematical Systematic Treatise ' ), better known as
576-476: A coherent mathematical description, which persists to the present as just intonation – the standard for comparison of consonance in the many other, less-than exact but more facile compromise tuning systems. During the Renaissance , Ptolemy's ideas inspired Kepler in his own musings on the harmony of the world ( Harmonice Mundi , Appendix to Book V). The Optica ( Koine Greek : Ὀπτικά ), known as
672-402: A handful of places. Ptolemy's real innovation, however, occurs in the second part of the book, where he provides a catalogue of 8,000 localities he collected from Marinus and others, the biggest such database from antiquity. About 6 300 of these places and geographic features have assigned coordinates so that they can be placed in a grid that spanned the globe. Latitude was measured from
768-498: A long exposition on the relationship between reason and sense perception in corroborating theoretical assumptions. After criticizing the approaches of his predecessors, Ptolemy argues for basing musical intervals on mathematical ratios (as opposed to the ideas advocated by followers of Aristoxenus ), backed up by empirical observation (in contrast to the excessively theoretical approach of the Pythagoreans ). Ptolemy introduces
864-601: A method for specifying the location of the Sun in three pairs of locally oriented coordinate arcs as a function of the declination of the Sun, the terrestrial latitude, and the hour. The key to the approach is to represent the solid configuration in a plane diagram that Ptolemy calls the analemma . In another work, the Phaseis ( Risings of the Fixed Stars ), Ptolemy gave a parapegma , a star calendar or almanac , based on
960-466: A much later pseudepigraphical composition. The identity and date of the actual author of the work, referred to now as Pseudo-Ptolemy , remains the subject of conjecture. Ptolemy wrote a work entitled Harmonikon ( Greek : Ἁρμονικόν ), known as the Harmonics , on music theory and the mathematics behind musical scales in three books. Harmonics begins with a definition of harmonic theory, with
1056-558: A temple at Canopus , around 146–147 AD, known as the Canobic Inscription . Although the inscription has not survived, someone in the sixth century transcribed it, and manuscript copies preserved it through the Middle Ages. It begins: "To the saviour god, Claudius Ptolemy (dedicates) the first principles and models of astronomy", following by a catalogue of numbers that define a system of celestial mechanics governing
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#17327904261291152-482: A thousand years or more". It was first translated from Arabic into Latin by Plato of Tivoli (Tiburtinus) in 1138, while he was in Spain. 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. It is, indeed, presented as the second part of the study of astronomy of which
1248-562: A view supported by the Stoics. Although mainly known for his contributions to astronomy and other scientific subjects, Ptolemy also engaged in epistemological and psychological discussions across his corpus. He wrote a short essay entitled On the Criterion and Hegemonikon ( Greek : Περὶ Κριτηρίου καὶ Ἡγεμονικοῡ ), which may have been one of his earliest works. Ptolemy deals specifically with how humans obtain scientific knowledge (i.e.,
1344-587: Is ancestral to the modern system of constellations but, unlike the modern system, they did not cover the whole sky (only what could be seen with the naked eye in the northern hemisphere). For over a thousand years, the Almagest was the authoritative text on astronomy across Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. The Almagest was preserved, like many extant Greek scientific works, in Arabic manuscripts;
1440-544: Is different from Wikidata All set index articles Kashgar Kashgar ( Uyghur : قەشقەر ) or Kashi ( Chinese : 喀什 ) is a city in the Tarim Basin region of southern Xinjiang , China. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, located near the country's border with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan . For over 2,000 years, Kashgar was a strategically important oasis on the Silk Road between China,
1536-689: Is his Geographike Hyphegesis ( Greek : Γεωγραφικὴ Ὑφήγησις ; lit. ' Guide to Drawing the Earth ' ), known as the Geography , a handbook on how to draw maps using geographical coordinates for parts of the Roman world known at the time. He relied on previous work by an earlier geographer, Marinus of Tyre , as well as on gazetteers of the Roman and ancient Persian Empire . He also acknowledged ancient astronomer Hipparchus for having provided
1632-596: Is of Homeric form . It was common among the Macedonian upper class at the time of Alexander the Great and there were several of this name among Alexander's army, one of whom made himself pharaoh in 323 BC: Ptolemy I Soter , the first pharaoh of the Ptolemaic Kingdom . Almost all subsequent pharaohs of Egypt, with a few exceptions, were named Ptolemy until Egypt became a Roman province in 30 BC, ending
1728-646: Is the Geography , which is a thorough discussion on maps and the geographic knowledge of the Greco-Roman world . The third is the astrological treatise in which he attempted to adapt horoscopic astrology to the Aristotelian natural philosophy of his day. This is sometimes known as the Apotelesmatika ( Greek : Αποτελεσματικά , lit. ' On the Effects ' ) but more commonly known as
1824-467: The Almagest , is the only surviving comprehensive ancient treatise on astronomy. Although Babylonian astronomers had developed arithmetical techniques for calculating and predicting astronomical phenomena, these were not based on any underlying model of the heavens; early Greek astronomers, on the other hand, provided qualitative geometrical models to "save the appearances" of celestial phenomena without
1920-580: The Tetrábiblos , from the Koine Greek meaning "Four Books", or by its Latin equivalent Quadripartite . The Catholic Church promoted his work, which included the only mathematically sound geocentric model of the Solar System , and unlike most Greek mathematicians , Ptolemy's writings (foremost the Almagest ) never ceased to be copied or commented upon, both in late antiquity and in
2016-662: The Almagest was the first, concerned with the influences of the celestial bodies in the sublunary sphere . Thus explanations of a sort are provided for the astrological effects of the planets , based upon their combined effects of heating, cooling, moistening, and drying. Ptolemy dismisses other astrological practices, such as considering the numerological significance of names, that he believed to be without sound basis, and leaves out popular topics, such as electional astrology (interpreting astrological charts to determine courses of action) and medical astrology , for similar reasons. The great respect in which later astrologers held
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#17327904261292112-410: The Geography is likely to be of different dates, in addition to containing many scribal errors. However, although the regional and world maps in surviving manuscripts date from c. 1300 AD (after the text was rediscovered by Maximus Planudes ), there are some scholars who think that such maps go back to Ptolemy himself. Ptolemy wrote an astrological treatise, in four parts, known by
2208-575: The Iranian languages , proposed that Kâš may have been the indigenous name of the city, with the Eastern Iranian suffix - ğar ( lit. ' mountain ' ) being attached later on. Archaic English spellings of Kashgar include Cascar and Cashgar . The modern Chinese name Kashi ( 喀什 ) is a shortened form of the longer and less-frequently used Kashiga'er ( 喀什噶尔 ). The Chinese government's official spelling for Kashgar in
2304-655: The Middle Ages . However, it is likely that only a few truly mastered the mathematics necessary to understand his works, as evidenced particularly by the many abridged and watered-down introductions to Ptolemy's astronomy that were popular among the Arabs and Byzantines. His work on epicycles has come to symbolize a very complex theoretical model built in order to explain a false assumption. Ptolemy's date of birth and birthplace are both unknown. The 14th-century astronomer Theodore Meliteniotes wrote that Ptolemy's birthplace
2400-461: The Middle East , and Europe . It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and has a population of 711,300 people (as of 2019 ). Kashgar's urban area covers 15 km (5.8 sq mi), although its administrative area extends over 555 km (214 sq mi). At the convergence point of widely varying cultures and empires, Kashgar has been under the rule of
2496-788: The Optics, is a work that survives only in a somewhat poor Latin version, which, in turn, was translated from a lost Arabic version by Eugenius of Palermo ( c. 1154 ). In it, Ptolemy writes about properties of sight (not light), including reflection , refraction , and colour . The work is a significant part of the early history of optics and influenced the more famous and superior 11th-century Book of Optics by Ibn al-Haytham . Ptolemy offered explanations for many phenomena concerning illumination and colour, size, shape, movement, and binocular vision. He also divided illusions into those caused by physical or optical factors and those caused by judgmental factors. He offered an obscure explanation of
2592-507: The Sarvastivadin School. At around the same era, Nestorian Christians were establishing bishoprics at Herat , Merv and Samarkand , whence they subsequently proceeded to Kashgar, and finally to China proper itself. Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy ( / ˈ t ɒ l ə m i / ; ‹See Tfd› Greek : Πτολεμαῖος , Ptolemaios ; Latin : Claudius Ptolemaeus ; c. 100 – c. 170 AD)
2688-463: The Tetrabiblos derived from its nature as an exposition of theory, rather than as a manual. A collection of one hundred aphorisms about astrology called the Centiloquium , ascribed to Ptolemy, was widely reproduced and commented on by Arabic, Latin, and Hebrew scholars, and often bound together in medieval manuscripts after the Tetrabiblos as a kind of summation. It is now believed to be
2784-460: The Uyghur language is Qeshqer ( قەشقەر ). The historical spelling Kashgher ( كاشغەر ) is still used by some Uyghurs today. Kashgar is located at the convergence point of widely varying cultures and empires, it has been under the rule of the historically Chinese, Turkic, Mongol, and Tibetan empires. The city has also been the site of a number of battles between various groups of people on
2880-513: The Zizhi Tongjian records that in the 5th month of 435, nine states: Kucha, Kashgar, Wusun, Yueban, Tashkurghan, Shanshan, Karashahr, Turpan and Sute all came to the Wei court. In 439, Shanshan, Kashgar and Karashahr sent envoys to present tribute. The kingdoms of Kucha, Kashgar, Wusun, Yueban, Tashkurghan, Shanshan, Karashahr, Turpan and Sute all began sending envoys to present tribute in
2976-461: The equator , as it is today, but Ptolemy preferred to express it as climata , the length of the longest day rather than degrees of arc : The length of the midsummer day increases from 12h to 24h as one goes from the equator to the polar circle . One of the places Ptolemy noted specific coordinates for was the now-lost stone tower which marked the midpoint on the ancient Silk Road , and which scholars have been trying to locate ever since. In
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3072-519: The harmonic canon (Greek name) or monochord (Latin name), which is an experimental musical apparatus that he used to measure relative pitches, and used to describe to his readers how to demonstrate the relations discussed in the following chapters for themselves. After the early exposition on to build and use monochord to test proposed tuning systems, Ptolemy proceeds to discuss Pythagorean tuning (and how to demonstrate that their idealized musical scale fails in practice). The Pythagoreans believed that
3168-445: The surname Kashgari . If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name (s) to the link. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kashgari&oldid=1241822014 " Categories : Surnames Uyghur-language surnames Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description
3264-430: The "criterion" of truth), as well as with the nature and structure of the human psyche or soul, particularly its ruling faculty (i.e., the hegemonikon ). Ptolemy argues that, to arrive at the truth, one should use both reason and sense perception in ways that complement each other. On the Criterion is also noteworthy for being the only one of Ptolemy's works that is devoid of mathematics . Elsewhere, Ptolemy affirms
3360-444: The 3rd century, mentions a number of states as dependencies of Kashgar: the kingdom of Zhenzhong (Arach?), the kingdom of Suoju (Yarkand), the kingdom of Jieshi, the kingdom of Qusha, the kingdom of Xiye (Khargalik), the kingdom of Yinai (Tashkurghan), the kingdom of Manli (modern Karasul), the kingdom of Yire (Mazar − also known as Tágh Nák and Tokanak), the kingdom of Yuling, the kingdom of Juandu ('Tax Control' − near modern Irkeshtam),
3456-585: The 6th century Kashgar is included among the many territories controlled by the Yeda or Hephthalite Huns, but their empire collapsed at the onslaught of the Western Turks between 563 and 567 who then probably gained control over Kashgar and most of the states in the Tarim Basin . The founding of the Tang dynasty in 618 saw the beginning of a prolonged struggle between China and the Western Turks for control of
3552-458: The Chinese, Turkic, Mongol and Tibetan empires. The city has also been the site of a number of battles between various groups of people on the steppes. Now administered as a county-level city , Kashgar is the administrative centre of Kashgar Prefecture , which has an area of 162,000 km (63,000 sq mi) and a population of approximately 4 million as of 2010 . Kashgar was declared
3648-473: The Emperor and, along with envoys from Dayuan (Ferghana) and Suoju (Yarkand), brought tribute and offerings. From an earlier part of the same text comes the following addition: In the first Yangjia year (132), Xu You sent the king of Shule (Kashgar), Chenpan, who with 20,000 men, attacked and defeated Yutian (Khotan). He beheaded several hundred people, and released his soldiers to plunder freely. He replaced
3744-489: The French astronomer Delambre in the early 1800s which were repeated by R.R. Newton. Specifically, it proved Hipparchus was not the sole source of Ptolemy's catalog, as they both had claimed, and proved that Ptolemy did not simply copy Hipparchus' measurements and adjust them to account for precession of the equinoxes, as they had claimed. Scientists analyzing the charts concluded: It also confirms that Ptolemy’s Star Catalogue
3840-477: The Greek term Tetrabiblos (lit. "Four Books") or by its Latin equivalent Quadripartitum . Its original title is unknown, but may have been a term found in some Greek manuscripts, Apotelesmatiká ( biblía ), roughly meaning "(books) on the Effects" or "Outcomes", or "Prognostics". As a source of reference, the Tetrabiblos is said to have "enjoyed almost the authority of a Bible among the astrological writers of
3936-574: The Kashgar oasis: During the Yuanchu period (114–120) in the reign of Emperor, the king of Shule (Kashgar), exiled his maternal uncle Chenpan to the Yuezhi (Kushans) for some offense. The king of the Yuezhi became very fond of him. Later, Anguo died without leaving a son. His mother directed the government of the kingdom. She agreed with the people of the country to put Yifu (lit. "posthumous child"), who
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4032-854: The Later Han when China lost touch with most foreign countries and came to be divided into three separate kingdoms. Chapter 30 of the Records of the Three Kingdoms says that after the beginning of the Wei Dynasty (220) the states of the Western Regions did not arrive as before, except for the larger ones such as Kucha , Khotan , Kangju , Wusun , Kashgar, Yuezhi , Shanshan and Turpan , who are said to have come to present tribute every year, as in Han times. In 270, four states from
4128-503: The Macedonian family's rule. The name Claudius is a Roman name, belonging to the gens Claudia ; the peculiar multipart form of the whole name Claudius Ptolemaeus is a Roman custom, characteristic of Roman citizens. This indicates that Ptolemy would have been a Roman citizen . Gerald Toomer, the translator of Ptolemy's Almagest into English, suggests that citizenship was probably granted to one of Ptolemy's ancestors by either
4224-583: The Qiuci (Kucha) Marquis of the Left, Douti, King of Shule (Kashgar). In winter 73 CE, the Han sent the Major Ban Chao who captured and bound Douti. He appointed Zhong, the son of the elder brother of Cheng, to be king of Shule (Kashgar). Zhong later rebelled. (Ban) Chao attacked and beheaded him. The Book of the Later Han also gives the only extant historical record of Yuezhi or Kushan involvement in
4320-455: The Sun or Moon illusion (the enlarged apparent size on the horizon) based on the difficulty of looking upwards. The work is divided into three major sections. The first section (Book II) deals with direct vision from first principles and ends with a discussion of binocular vision. The second section (Books III-IV) treats reflection in plane, convex, concave, and compound mirrors. The last section (Book V) deals with refraction and includes
4416-512: The Taiyuan reign period (435–440). In 453 Kashgar sent envoys to present tribute, and again in 455. An embassy sent during the reign of Wencheng Di (452–466) from the king of Kashgar presented a supposed sacred relic of the Buddha; a dress which was incombustible. In 507, Kashgar sent envoys in both the 9th and 10th months. In 512, Kashgar sent envoys in the 1st and 5th months. Early in
4512-637: The Tarim Basin. In 635, the Tang Annals reported an emissary from the king of Kashgar to the Tang capital. In 639 there was a second emissary bringing products of Kashgar as a token of submission to the Tang state. Buddhist scholar Xuanzang passed through Kashgar (which he referred to as Kasha ) in 644 on his return journey from India to China. The Buddhist religion, then beginning to decay in India,
4608-576: The Uyghurs, while Shule referred to the new city built by Han Chinese settlers, located 6 miles (9.7 km) from the old one. Shule may have been an attempt by the Chinese to transcribe the Sanskrit name for Kashgar, Śrīkrīrāti ( lit. ' fortunate hospitality ' ). The origin of the name Kashgar is not known for certain and is the subject of academic debate. The Roman geographer Ptolemy (90–168), in his work Geography , refers to
4704-615: The Western Regions split up and formed fifty-five kingdoms. Wang Mang, after he usurped the Throne [in 9 CE], demoted and changed their kings and marquises. Following this, the Western Regions became resentful and rebelled. They, therefore, broke off all relations with the Interior [China] and, all together, submitted to the Xiongnu again. The Xiongnu collected oppressively heavy taxes and the kingdoms were not able to support their demands. In
4800-559: The Western Regions were said to have presented tribute: Karashahr , Turpan , Shanshan , and Kucha . Some wooden documents from Niya seem to indicate that contacts were also maintained with Kashgar and Khotan around this time. In 422, according to the Songshu , ch. 98, the king of Shanshan, Bilong, came to the court and "the thirty-six states in the Western Regions" all swore their allegiance and presented tribute. It must be assumed that these 36 states included Kashgar. The "Songji" of
4896-559: The Yongping period [58 – 75 CE], the Northern Xiongnu forced several countries to help them plunder the commanderies and districts of Hexi. The gates of the towns stayed shut in broad daylight." More particularly, in reference to Kashgar itself, is the following record: In the sixteenth Yongping year of Emperor Ming 73, Jian, the king of Qiuci ( Kucha ), attacked and killed Cheng, the king of Shule (Kashgar). Then he appointed
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#17327904261294992-409: The Yuezhi (Kushans). They immediately took the seal and ribbon from Yifu and went to Chenpan, and made him king. Yifu was given the title of Marquis of the town of Pangao [90 li, or 37 km, from Shule]. Then Suoju (Yarkand) continued to resist Yutian (Khotan), and put themselves under Shule (Kashgar). Thus Shule (Kashgar), became powerful and a rival to Qiuci (Kucha) and Yutian (Khotan)." However, it
5088-422: The ability to make any predictions. The earliest person who attempted to merge these two approaches was Hipparchus , who produced geometric models that not only reflected the arrangement of the planets and stars but could be used to calculate celestial motions. Ptolemy, following Hipparchus, derived each of his geometrical models for the Sun, Moon, and the planets from selected astronomical observations done in
5184-476: The appearances and disappearances of stars over the course of the solar year. The Planisphaerium ( Greek : Ἅπλωσις ἐπιφανείας σφαίρας , lit. ' Flattening of the sphere ' ) contains 16 propositions dealing with the projection of the celestial circles onto a plane. The text is lost in Greek (except for a fragment) and survives in Arabic and Latin only. Ptolemy also erected an inscription in
5280-403: The book on astrology and attributed it to Ptolemy". Historical confusion on this point can be inferred from Abu Ma'shar's subsequent remark: "It is sometimes said that the very learned man who wrote the book of astrology also wrote the book of the Almagest . The correct answer is not known." Not much positive evidence is known on the subject of Ptolemy's ancestry, apart from what can be drawn from
5376-472: The city as Kasi . The Buddhist scholar Xuanzang meanwhile recorded the name Kasha after passing through the city in 644. The name Kashgar did not appear in Chinese records (as 喀什噶爾 ; Kàshígé'ěr ) until the Song dynasty (960–1279), but it was likely to have been used orally long before then. British archaeologist Aurel Stein (1862–1943) argued that the name Kashgar came into use in 716, sometime after
5472-510: The data needed to compute the positions of the Sun, Moon and planets, the rising and setting of the stars, and eclipses of the Sun and Moon, making it a useful tool for astronomers and astrologers. The tables themselves are known through Theon of Alexandria 's version. Although Ptolemy's Handy Tables do not survive as such in Arabic or in Latin, they represent the prototype of most Arabic and Latin astronomical tables or zījes . Additionally,
5568-747: The details of his name, although modern scholars have concluded that Abu Ma'shar's account is erroneous. It is no longer doubted that the astronomer who wrote the Almagest also wrote the Tetrabiblos as its astrological counterpart. In later Arabic sources, he was often known as "the Upper Egyptian ", suggesting he may have had origins in southern Egypt . Arabic astronomers , geographers , and physicists referred to his name in Arabic as Baṭlumyus ( Arabic : بَطْلُمْيوس ). Ptolemy wrote in Koine Greek , and can be shown to have used Babylonian astronomical data . He might have been
5664-402: The earliest surviving table of refraction from air to water, for which the values (with the exception of the 60° angle of incidence) show signs of being obtained from an arithmetic progression. However, according to Mark Smith, Ptolemy's table was based in part on real experiments. Ptolemy's theory of vision consisted of rays (or flux) coming from the eye forming a cone, the vertex being within
5760-469: The elevation of the north celestial pole for a few cities. Although maps based on scientific principles had been made since the time of Eratosthenes ( c. 276 – c. 195 BC ), Ptolemy improved on map projections . The first part of the Geography is a discussion of the data and of the methods he used. Ptolemy notes the supremacy of astronomical data over land measurements or travelers' reports, though he possessed these data for only
5856-553: The emperor Claudius or the emperor Nero . The 9th century Persian astronomer Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi mistakenly presents Ptolemy as a member of Ptolemaic Egypt's royal lineage , stating that the descendants of the Alexandrine general and Pharaoh Ptolemy I Soter were wise "and included Ptolemy the Wise, who composed the book of the Almagest ". Abu Ma'shar recorded a belief that a different member of this royal line "composed
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#17327904261295952-425: The empirical musical relations he identified by testing pitches against each other: He was able to accurately measure relative pitches based on the ratios of vibrating lengths two separate sides of the same single string , hence which were assured to be under equal tension, eliminating one source of error. He analyzed the empirically determined ratios of "pleasant" pairs of pitches, and then synthesised all of them into
6048-419: The eye, and the base defining the visual field. The rays were sensitive, and conveyed information back to the observer's intellect about the distance and orientation of surfaces. Size and shape were determined by the visual angle subtended at the eye combined with perceived distance and orientation. This was one of the early statements of size-distance invariance as a cause of perceptual size and shape constancy,
6144-653: The foot of the Tian Shan range. Ptolemy speaks of Scythia beyond the Imaus , which is in a "Kasia Regio", probably exhibiting the name from which Kashgar and Kashgaria (often applied to the district) are formed. The country's people practised Zoroastrianism and Buddhism before the coming of Islam . In the Book of Han , which covers the period between 125 BCE and 23 CE, it is recorded that there were 1,510 households, 18,647 people and 2,000 persons able to bear arms. By
6240-553: The history of science". One striking error noted by Newton was an autumn equinox said to have been observed by Ptolemy and "measured with the greatest care" at 2pm on 25 September 132, when the equinox should have been observed around 9:55am the day prior. In attempting to disprove Newton, Herbert Lewis also found himself agreeing that "Ptolemy was an outrageous fraud," and that "all those result capable of statistical analysis point beyond question towards fraud and against accidental error". The charges laid by Newton and others have been
6336-616: The introduction to the Handy Tables survived separately from the tables themselves (apparently part of a gathering of some of Ptolemy's shorter writings) under the title Arrangement and Calculation of the Handy Tables . The Planetary Hypotheses ( Greek : Ὑποθέσεις τῶν πλανωμένων , lit. ' Hypotheses of the Planets ' ) is a cosmological work, probably one of the last written by Ptolemy, in two books dealing with
6432-403: The king [of Jumi] by installing Chengguo from the family of [the previous king] Xing, and then he returned. The first passage continues: In the second Yangjia year (133), Chenpan again made offerings (including) a lion and zebu cattle. Then, during Emperor Ling's reign, in the first Jianning year [168], the king of Shule (Kashgar) and Commandant-in-Chief for the Han (i.e. presumably Chenpan),
6528-514: The kingdom of Xiuxiu ('Excellent Rest Stop' − near Karakavak), and the kingdom of Qin. However, much of the information on the Western Regions contained in the Weilüe seems to have ended roughly about (170), near the end of Han power. So, we cannot be sure that this is a reference to the state of affairs during the Cao Wei (220–265), or whether it refers to the situation before the civil war during
6624-500: The mathematics of music should be based on only the one specific ratio of 3:2, the perfect fifth , and believed that tunings mathematically exact to their system would prove to be melodious, if only the extremely large numbers involved could be calculated (by hand). To the contrary, Ptolemy believed that musical scales and tunings should in general involve multiple different ratios arranged to fit together evenly into smaller tetrachords (combinations of four pitch ratios which together make
6720-642: The meantime, the Xiongnu became weaker. The king of Suoju [Yarkand], named Xian, wiped out several kingdoms. After Xian's death [c. 62 CE], they began to attack and fight each other. Xiao Yuan [Tura], Jingjue [Cadota], Ronglu [Niya] and Qiemo [Cherchen] were annexed by Shanshan [the Lop Nur region]. Qule [south of Keriya] and Pishan [modern Pishan or Guma] were conquered and fully occupied by Yutian [Khotan]. Yuli [Fukang], Danhuan, Guhu [Dawan Cheng] and Wutanzili were destroyed by Jushi [Turpan and Jimasa]; said kingdoms were subsequently reestablished in later years. During
6816-529: The middle of the Jianwu period [AD 25–56], they each [Shanshan and Yarkand in 38 and 18 kingdoms in 45], sent envoys to ask if they could submit to the Interior [China] and to express their desire for a Protector-General. Emperor Guangwu, decided that because the Empire was not yet settled [after a long period of civil war], he had no time for outside affairs and [therefore] finally refused his consent [in 45 CE]. In
6912-566: The modern title is thought to be an Arabic corruption of the Greek name Hē Megistē Syntaxis (lit. "The greatest treatise"), as the work was presumably known in Late Antiquity . Because of its reputation, it was widely sought and translated twice into Latin in the 12th century , once in Sicily and again in Spain. Ptolemy's planetary models, like those of the majority of his predecessors, were geocentric and almost universally accepted until
7008-477: The motions of the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars. In 2023, archaeologists were able to read a manuscript which gives instructions for the construction of an astronomical tool called a meteoroscope ( μετεωροσκόπιον or μετεωροσκοπεῖον ). The text, which comes from an eighth-century manuscript which also contains Ptolemy's Analemma , was identified on the basis of both its content and linguistic analysis as being by Ptolemy. Ptolemy's second most well-known work
7104-461: The observations were taken at 12:30pm. The overall quality of Ptolemy's observations has been challenged by several modern scientists, but prominently by Robert R. Newton in his 1977 book The Crime of Claudius Ptolemy , which asserted that Ptolemy fabricated many of his observations to fit his theories. Newton accused Ptolemy of systematically inventing data or doctoring the data of earlier astronomers, and labelled him "the most successful fraud in
7200-401: The radius of the sphere of the fixed stars was 20 000 times the radius of the Earth. The work is also notable for having descriptions on how to build instruments to depict the planets and their movements from a geocentric perspective, much as an orrery would have done for a heliocentric one, presumably for didactic purposes. The Analemma is a short treatise where Ptolemy provides
7296-660: The raids on the city by Qutayba ibn Muslim , the then Arab governor of Khurasan . However, Stein's contemporary, the Scottish historian H. A. R. Gibb (1895–1971), argued that Qutayba never made it as far as Kashgar, and Stein was likely conflating Kashgar with another city. The English name Kashgar is derived from the Russian name ( Кашгар ), which itself is derived from the Persian name Kâšğar ( کاشغر ). H. W. Bailey (1899–1996), an English scholar who specialised in
7392-486: The reappearance of heliocentric models during the scientific revolution . Under the scrutiny of modern scholarship, and the cross-checking of observations contained in the Almagest against figures produced through backwards extrapolation, various patterns of errors have emerged within the work. A prominent miscalculation is Ptolemy's use of measurements that he claimed were taken at noon, but which systematically produce readings now shown to be off by half an hour, as if
7488-405: The secondary literature, while noting that issues with the accuracy of Ptolemy's observations had long been known. Other authors have pointed out that instrument warping or atmospheric refraction may also explain some of Ptolemy's observations at a wrong time. In 2022 the first Greek fragments of Hipparchus' lost star catalog were discovered in a palimpsest and they debunked accusations made by
7584-474: The spanning of more than 800 years; however, many astronomers have for centuries suspected that some of his models' parameters were adopted independently of observations. Ptolemy presented his astronomical models alongside convenient tables, which could be used to compute the future or past position of the planets. The Almagest also contains a star catalogue , which is a version of a catalogue created by Hipparchus . Its list of forty-eight constellations
7680-451: The spheres ). Although Ptolemy's Harmonics never had the influence of his Almagest or Geography , it is nonetheless a well-structured treatise and contains more methodological reflections than any other of his writings. In particular, it is a nascent form of what in the following millennium developed into the scientific method, with specific descriptions of the experimental apparatus that he built and used to test musical conjectures, and
7776-642: The steppes. The earliest mention of Kashgar occurs when a Chinese Han dynasty envoy travelled the Northern Silk Road to explore lands to the west. Another early mention of Kashgar is during the Former Han (also known as the Western Han dynasty ), when in 76 BCE the Chinese conquered the Xiongnu , Yutian ( Khotan ), Sulei (Kashgar) and a group of states in the Tarim Basin almost up to
7872-440: The structure of the universe and the laws that govern celestial motion . Ptolemy goes beyond the mathematical models of the Almagest to present a physical realization of the universe as a set of nested spheres, in which he used the epicycles of his planetary model to compute the dimensions of the universe. He estimated the Sun was at an average distance of 1 210 Earth radii (now known to actually be ~23 450 radii), while
7968-517: The subject of wide discussions and received significant push back from other scholars against the findings. Owen Gingerich , while agreeing that the Almagest contains "some remarkably fishy numbers", including in the matter of the 30-hour displaced equinox, which he noted aligned perfectly with predictions made by Hipparchus 278 years earlier, rejected the qualification of fraud. Objections were also raised by Bernard Goldstein , who questioned Newton's findings and suggested that he had misunderstood
8064-501: The supremacy of mathematical knowledge over other forms of knowledge. Like Aristotle before him, Ptolemy classifies mathematics as a type of theoretical philosophy; however, Ptolemy believes mathematics to be superior to theology or metaphysics because the latter are conjectural while only the former can secure certain knowledge. This view is contrary to the Platonic and Aristotelian traditions, where theology or metaphysics occupied
8160-587: The third part of the Geography , Ptolemy gives instructions on how to create maps both of the whole inhabited world ( oikoumenē ) and of the Roman provinces, including the necessary topographic lists, and captions for the maps. His oikoumenē spanned 180 degrees of longitude from the Blessed Islands in the Atlantic Ocean to the middle of China , and about 80 degrees of latitude from Shetland to anti-Meroe (east coast of Africa ); Ptolemy
8256-416: The time covered by the Book of the Later Han (roughly 25 to 170 CE), it had grown to 21,000 households and had 3,000 men able to bear arms. The Book of the Later Han provides a wealth of detail on developments in the region: In the period of Emperor Wu [140–87 BC], the Western Regions were under the control of the Interior [China]. They numbered thirty-six kingdoms. The Imperial Government established
8352-486: The town of Zhenzhong [Arach − near Maralbashi] but, having stayed for more than forty days without being able to subdue it, they withdrew. Following this, the kings of Shule (Kashgar) killed one another repeatedly while the Imperial Government was unable to prevent it. These centuries are marked by a general silence in sources on Kashgar and the Tarim Basin. The Weilüe , composed in the second third of
8448-466: Was Ptolemais Hermiou , a Greek city in the Thebaid region of Egypt (now El Mansha, Sohag Governorate ). This attestation is quite late, however, and there is no evidence to support it. It is known that Ptolemy lived in or around the city of Alexandria , in the Roman province of Egypt under Roman rule . He had a Latin name, Claudius, which is generally taken to imply he was a Roman citizen . He
8544-481: Was active in Kashgar. Xuanzang recorded that they flattened their babies heads, tattooed their bodies and had green eyes. He reported that Kashgar had abundant crops, fruits and flowers, wove fine woolen stuffs and rugs. Their writing system had been adapted from Indian script but their language was different from that of other countries. The inhabitants were sincere Buddhist adherents and there were some hundreds of monasteries with more than 10,000 followers, all members of
8640-431: Was an Alexandrian mathematician , astronomer , astrologer , geographer , and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises , three of which were important to later Byzantine , Islamic , and Western European science. The first was his astronomical treatise now known as the Almagest , originally entitled Mathematical Treatise ( Greek : Μαθηματικὴ Σύνταξις , Mathēmatikḗ Syntaxis ). The second
8736-628: Was familiar with Greek philosophers and used Babylonian observations and Babylonian lunar theory. In half of his extant works, Ptolemy addresses a certain Syrus, a figure of whom almost nothing is known but who likely shared some of Ptolemy's astronomical interests. Ptolemy died in Alexandria c. 168 . Ptolemy's Greek name , Ptolemaeus ( Πτολεμαῖος , Ptolemaîos ), is an ancient Greek personal name . It occurs once in Greek mythology and
8832-788: Was killed while hunting by the youngest of his paternal uncles, Hede. Hede named himself king. In the third year (170), Meng Tuo, the Inspector of Liangzhou, sent the Provincial Officer Ren She, commanding five hundred soldiers from Dunhuang, with the Wuji Major Cao Kuan, and Chief Clerk of the Western Regions, Zhang Yan, brought troops from Yanqi ( Karashahr ), Qiuci (Kucha), and the Nearer and Further States of Jushi (Turpan and Jimasa), altogether numbering more than 30,000, to punish Shule (Kashgar). They attacked
8928-464: Was not based solely on data from Hipparchus’ Catalogue. ... These observations are consistent with the view that Ptolemy composed his star catalogue by combining various sources, including Hipparchus’ catalogue, his own observations and, possibly, those of other authors. The Handy Tables ( Greek : Πρόχειροι κανόνες ) are a set of astronomical tables, together with canons for their use. To facilitate astronomical calculations, Ptolemy tabulated all
9024-495: Was not very long before the Chinese began to reassert their authority in the region: In the second Yongjian year (127), during Emperor Shun's reign, Chenpan sent an envoy to respectfully present offerings. The Emperor bestowed on Chenpan the title of Great Commandant-in-Chief for the Han. Chenxun, who was the son of his elder brother, was appointed Temporary Major of the Kingdom. In the fifth year (130), Chenpan sent his son to serve
9120-561: Was the son of a full younger brother of Chenpan on the throne as king of Shule (Kashgar). Chenpan heard of this and appealed to the Yuezhi ( Kushan ) king, saying: "Anguo had no son. His relative (Yifu) is weak. If one wants to put on the throne a member of (Anguo's) mother's family, I am Yifu's paternal uncle, it is I who should be king." The Yuezhi (Kushans) then sent soldiers to escort him back to Shule (Kashgar). The people had previously respected and been fond of Chenpan. Besides, they dreaded
9216-506: Was well aware that he knew about only a quarter of the globe, and an erroneous extension of China southward suggests his sources did not reach all the way to the Pacific Ocean. It seems likely that the topographical tables in the second part of the work (Books 2–7) are cumulative texts, which were altered as new knowledge became available in the centuries after Ptolemy. This means that information contained in different parts of
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