Claudius_Ptolemy

Claudius Ptolemy Cultural Background Claudius Ptolemy was born about 85 A.D. in Egypt and died about 165 A.D. in Alexandria, Egypt. He did his major works in Alexandria, which was the center of Greek learning. His name Claudius Ptolemy, is a mixture of the Greek Egyptian ‘Ptolemy’ and the Roman ‘Claudius’. This would indicate that he was a descendant from a Greek family living in Egypt and that he was a citizen of Rome, which would be a result of a Roman emperor giving that reward to one of Ptolemy’s ancestors. Very little is known of his life. He made astronomical observations from Alexandria in Egypt during the years AD 127-41. There is no evidence that Ptolemy lived anywhere other than Alexandria. Times Lived In Claudius Ptolemy lived through the time in which the Roman Empire was at its highest peak. The Roman Empire controlled everything around the Mediterranean Sea including Egypt. He was born after the death of Jesus and his resurrection. Educational Background We do know that Ptolemy used observations made by ‘Theon the mathematician’, and this was almost certainly Theon of Smyrna who was his teacher. This would make sense, since Theon of Smyrna was both an observer ptolemy, planets, motions, works, greek, ptolemy’s, time, known, egypt, alexandria, work, view, universe, roman, one, mathematical, geography, earth, center, ad, about, until, theory, system, sphere, remained, projection, made, lived, geocentric, construction, astronomy, years, wisdom