A Study Of Ptolemy 's Four Books

Astrology is in close relationship with astronomy. Astrology is the imagination in ancient world. Except the mystery, astrology also had the precision of observation and calculation. So astrology can be said to be exact science, which was the earliest science in the history. Ptolemy wrote Tetrabiblos in ancient Greece, that was an astrology book, writing at AD 139- 161. Because of four volumes of the book,named "four volumes book". He thought Almagest was Tetrabiblos’ sister. Tetrabiblos’ volumeⅠmay correspond to Almagest’s mathematical astronomy knowledge, that was told us about sun, moon, planets and five stars’ operational regulation; volumeⅡestablish basic theories and rules of astrology, and discussed astrology application in the nation; volumeⅢ and volumeⅣ predict the future of person, it would use of the astrolabe and horoscope.The paper’s significance is: First, this paper is based on the Tetrabiblos and literature that in English, then made the detailed description with Tetrabiblos; Second,demonstrated the Tetrabiblos and Almagest’s relationship; Third, for western astronomy in Chinese spread, I tried to provide some evidence; Fourth, given the significance of astrology astronomy.In this paper, The premise of describing the Tetrabiblos’ background and structure,I did this work:First, translated the Tetrabiblos and English literatureEnglish literature in Chinese;Second, comparing Tetrabiblos’ eclipses, the five planets operating rules and mathematical astronomy with and Almagest, then discussion the relationship between Almagest and the Tetrabiblos;Third, discussed the spread in China, mainly around the late Tang Dynasty and Qing Dynasty’s books;Fourth, the discussed astrology in ancient Greek’s background, and analysis this background’s "scientific" and "philosophical".