3rd Century AD papyrus fragment of Ptolemy'sHandy Tables
Ptolemy'sHandy Tables (Ancient Greek:πρόχειροι κανόνες,romanized: Procheiroi kanones) is a collection of astronomical tables that second century astronomerPtolemy created after finishing theAlmagest. The Handy Tables elaborated the astronomical tables of the Almagest and included usage instructions, but left out the theoretical commentary in order to facilitate practical computation. The work is considered of high significance during thelate antiquity and in the Middle Eastern and Eastern Mediterranean medieval traditions.[1][2][3]
The earliest surviving manuscript in the Rylands Library dates from the 3rd century AD.[4][5][6][7] Ptolemy is also thought to have produced theTable of Noteworthy Cities as an aid for his astronomical tables.[8]
^Roberts, C. H. (1938).Catalogue of the Greek and Latin Papyri in the John Rylands Library Manchester, Volume III, Theological and Literary Texts (Nos. 457-551). Manchester University Library. pp. 147–150.
^Defaux, Olivier (2017).The Iberian peninsula in Ptolemy's Geography: origins of the coordinates and textual history. Berlin studies of the ancient world. Berlin: Edition Topoi. pp. 122–6.ISBN978-3-9816384-6-2.
Defaux, Olivier (2023).La Table des rois: Contribution à l'histoire textuelle des ›Tables faciles‹ de Ptolémée. Berlin: De Gruyter.doi:10.1515/9783111304458.ISBN9783111303956.
