120 - [Greece]. ARATOS OF SOLES.

[Greece]. ARATOS OF SOLES. [The Phenomena and Prognostics of Aratos of Soles; Theon’s scholia; Eratosthenes’ Catasterisms; the measurement of the Earth’s circumference; the doubling of the cube; the sieve; the sources of the Nile; the cross-section of the cannon; the Hymns of Dionysius]. ???at?? S??e?? Fa???µe?a ?a? ???s?µe?a. Te???? s????a. ???at?s?e???? ?ataste??sµ??. ?et??? t?? ??? pe??fe?e?a?. ??? ??B?? d?p?as?asµ??. ??s?????. ??? ?e???? p??a?. ??? ?a????? t?µ?. ?????s??? ??µ??? [and] Accesserunt Annotationes in Eratosthenem et Hymnos Dionysii. Oxonii, E Theatro Sheldoniano, 1672. Two parts in one in-12 volume. (7)-147-(3)-(5)-69 pp., a frontispiece title page and 2 folding plates, finely etched in black; geometric figures and a page of musical scores, wood-engraved in-vol. in the second part. Contemporary hinged vellum binding, cold-tooled fillet framing the covers, edges finely speckled with red (vellum soiled with an old stain on the front cover, spine tarnished, 3 ff. with gray corner soiling, but a fine copy that has remained fresh). A rare 17th-century Oxford edition, in its contemporary vellum binding. Complete with the two celestial maps featuring zodiacal figures and the engraved frontispiece. A fine scholarly Oxford edition from 1672, edited by John Fell (1625–1686), Bishop of Oxford and a leading figure in the development of English university printing. It brings together several foundational texts on astronomy and the ancient sciences, illustrated notably by two celestial maps and an engraved frontispiece. Preface in Latin and Greek. Aratus of Soles (c. 315–245 B.C.), a native of Soles in Cilicia, was a contemporary of Callimachus and Theocritus. He also lived at the court of Antigonus Gonatas of Macedonia. A poem on astronomy, describing the positions of the stars and constellations, characteristic of the Alexandrian School. Although Aratus was not a professional astronomer, his poem attracted the favorable attention of readers and of Hipparchus, who wrote commentaries on it. It was translated into Latin by Cicero. 19th-century autograph signature in green ink opposite the frontispiece title. ARATUS OF SOLIS. METAPHYSICAL POEM. BOOK IN GREEK.