The Shelves · Mathematics (incl. astronomy)

Commentary on the Phaenomena of Aratus and Eudoxus (and the lost star catalogue)

Known · Probablein Alexandria?Conjecturedvery likely class

See it on the shelves ›

I · The entry, in his form

In the table of Mathematics (incl. astronomy)

Conjecturedvery likely class

Hipparchus of Nicaea

Commentary on the Phaenomena of Aratus and Eudoxus

Opening words not preserved.

Length: not counted

Above, his entry form, filled from what we know. Below, ours.

II · Does it survive? Where to read it

Survives in large part

The commentary is his only surviving work. In 2022 coordinates probably from his star catalogue were read under a Christian text in a Sinai palimpsest.

Was it in Alexandria?

Known · Probable

Probably held in the Library.

In the cupboard: no source names the Alexandrian copy, but its scholars' use of it makes one very likely.

Read it today

III · In the show

The show has not yet spoken of this work.

IV · Sources and the living entry

Ancient references (2)
  • Ptolemy, Almagest 3.1; 7.1-3
  • Pliny, Natural History 2.95
Modern scholarship (3)
  • V. Gysembergh, P. J. Williams and E. Zingg, 'New Evidence for Hipparchus' Star Catalogue Revealed by Multispectral Imaging', Journal for the History of Astronomy 53.4 (2022): 383-393.
  • O. Neugebauer, A History of Ancient Mathematical Astronomy, 3 vols (Berlin: Springer, 1975).
  • G. J. Toomer (trans.), Ptolemy's Almagest (London: Duckworth, 1984)

Entry checked 31 Oct 2026 · no corrections · Suggest a correction ›

COMMENTARY ON THE PHAENOMENA OF ARATUS AND EUDOXUS

Beside it in the cupboard