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The Ptolemaic View of the Universe 
Wolfgang Hubner 

T
HE ANCIENT GEOCENTRIC SYSTEM commonly is termed 

'Ptolemaic," and the same is said even of ancient 
astrologicallore,1 although Ptolemy did not invent either 

the geocentric or the astrological system. His principal merit 
was to have focused the history of astronomy for nearly a 
thousand years from 800 B.c. down to his age, the late second 
century A.D., into a comprehensive account, and to have 
described all the complicated motions of the stars in an elegant 
abstract language. But he has been severely indicted in Robert R. 
Newton's The Crime of Claudius Ptolemy. 2 Newton tried to de­
monstrate the zero reliability for nearly all observations-those 
Ptolemy claims to have made himself and those that he 
attributes to other astronomers as well. Newton writes (354): 
"Instead of abandoning the theories, he deliberately fabricated 
observations from the theories so that he could claim that the 
observation prove the validity of his theories. In every scientific 
or scholarly setting known, this practice is called fraud, and it is 
a crime against science and scholarship." And he adds a com­
parison (365): "This reminds me of a political cartoon that I 
saw some years ago ... The cartoon showed a pedestrian who 

1 For example recently A. Geneva, Astrology and the Seventeenth. Century 
Mind: William Lilly ana the Language of the Stars (Manchester /New York 
1995); see my review, International Journal of the Classical Tradition 6 (1999) 
243--251. It becomes all the more clear that in antiquity there was no termino­
logical distinction between astrology and astronomy: W. Hubner, Die Begriffe 
"Astrologie" und "Astronomie" in der Antike. Wortgeschichte und Wissen­
schajtssystematik, mit einer Hypothese zum Terminus "Quadrivium" (Abh 
Mamz 19S9.7). · 

2 Robert R. Newton, The Crime of C.la#dius Ptolemy (Baltimore/London 
1977). - - •. 

Greek, Roman, and Byzantine $tudies 41 (2000) 59-93 
©2001 GRBS 



L 

60 THE PTOLEMAIC VIEW OF THE UNIVERSE 

had been knocked down by a passing car and. who was now 
lying beside the road. The car had stopped a short distance 
beyond, and the driver was running back toward the victim 
while calling out: 'I'm a doctor. You're lucky I happened to be 
passing by!"' He explains: "Ptolemy is the doctor-driver and 
the victim is the science of astronomy," adding "we do not owe 
Ptolemy our thanks for the small amount of earlier astronomy 
that he has preserved. Instead, we !owe him our condemnation 
for the large amount of genuine astronomy that he has caused us 
to lose." 

The task of refuting this violent attack has been made easier 
by the Danish scholar Kristian Peder Moesgaard,3 who invoked 
the monograph of his compatriot Olaf Pedersen,4 A Survey of the 
Almagest, published three years before Newton's volume. Ptol­
emy indeed calculated and extrapolated more than he observed, 
and his astronomical data depend largely on the great Hip­
parchus~ In his famous star-catalogue, for example, he always 
added 2°40' to the eclipticallongitudes observed by Hippar­
chus. But he assumed a too slow precession of the equinoxes, 
one degree in 100 years instead of 71.6 years. So his catalogue 
given for the year 137 was only right for the year 63. 

But this was not a deliberate fraud. Ptolemy spent all his 
efforts in synthesizing the results of earlier astronomy originat­
ing in the work of the Babylonians, earlier th<l!! himself by a mil­
lennium, and to bring them into an elegant ab~tract form, which 
was worthy to be transmitted/to the Arabs in the eighth and 
ninth centuries and in western thought during the dark ages of 
science until the reawakening of science from the twelfth century 
onwards. The French scholar Germaine Aujac5 rightly qualifies 
his works as "ouvrages de synthese." 

3 K. P. Moesgaard, Journal for the History of Astronomy 11 (1980) 133-135. 
4 0. Pedersen, A Survey of the Alamagest (Odense 1974). 
5 Germaine Aujac, Claude Ptolemee, astronome, astrologue, geographe. Con­

naissance et representation du monde habite (Paris 1993,: hereafter AUJAC) 21. 

WOLGANG HUBNER 61 

I address here two matters: first the so-called Ptolemaic cos­
mology, which was not invented by Ptolemy, and second the 
specific Ptolemaic version of astrological geography. 

1. Cosmology 
Ptolemy was not only an astronomer and astrologer. He wrote 

many other works, on the theory of cognition, mechanics, har­
monics, optics, and geography. This universalism is not only an 
individual trait; to the contrary, we can recognize two external 
principal influences. First there were the Pythagorean and Pla­
tonic traditions, so intimately connected that the Pythagorean 
nucleus and the Platonic additions can hardly be separated.6 

Nevertheless it is clear that the magnificent idea of the harmony 
of the spheres does go back to the Pythagoreans, first of all the 
analogy between the musical intervals and the distances of the 
planetary orbits. Ptolemy follows this in the Kanobos inscrip-­
tion, which now generally is considered genuine. At the end of 
his treatise on harmony, where he enlarges on the relationship 
between the musical ~ntervals and the zodiacal aspects, he adds 
the analogy between the three main intervals (octave, fifth, 
fourth) and the Platonic threefold souV The Kanobus in­
scription, containing principally numbers pertinent to our solar 
system, was on a sto-ne monument ( cr'tflA:rt) d~dicated in the 
temple of Serapis at Kanobus. It see~&- to be something like the 
account of data concerning our human and solar system that 
was recently sent by missile into space in order to inform so~e 
extraterrestrial beings about our globe. 

But there is not only a Platonic but also an Aristotelian heri-

6 See W. Burkert, Weisheit und Wissenschaft. Studien zu Pythagoras, Philo­
laos und Platon (Niirnberg 1962), English translation with revisions by Edwin 
L. Minar: Lore and Science in Ancient Pythagoreanism (Cambridge [Mass.] 
1972: hereafter BURKERT). 

7 Ptol. Harm. 3.5-16, cf F. Boll, Studien iiber Claudius Ptolemiius. Ein Beitrag 
zur Geschichte der griechischen Philosophie und Astrologie (Jahrb.class.Philo7. 
Suppl. 21 [Leipzig 1894]) 49-244, esp. 93-109 "Philosophisches in der Har­
morii.k" and 163-168 "Harmonik und Astronomie in der Tetrabiblos," 



62 THE PTOLEMAIC VIEW OF THE UNIVERSE 

tage, since Alexander the Great had been taught by Aristotle; 
and his successor in Egypt, Ptolemy Soter, had called to his 
court the Peripatetic Demetrios of Phaleron to found the Alexan­
drian Mouseion.8 Among the Platonists it was the wilful Hera­
kleides Pontikos who continued the doctrine of the universal 
spirit; among the Alexandrian scholars it was Eratosthenes, 
nicknamed "Pentathlos" -that is, one who exercised many 
disciplines. 

The Ptolemaic system finalized three main generally accepted 
doctrines: 
1. First, despite many discussions, the universe generally was 
imagined to be closed (limited), the exterior shell (or skin) con­
stituting the inner part of a hollow globe. This belief allowed a 
certain confidence in a pre-established harmony and a senti­
ment of security amidst the loneli11ess of an otherwise unlimited 
space without any supports. 
2. But this universe was also imagined to be eternal/ because all 
celestial bodies appeared as globes, and the globe in spherical 
geometry (as well as the circle in two-dimension planimetry) 
was held to be the ideal, hence eternal figure. All celestial 
motions must be circular orbits, and every apparent deviation 
had to be explained by additional circles grafted onto the circles 
(e1ttx:ux:A.ux). Eudoxos of Knidos established 26 such circles, 
and Aristotle went up to 55. 

That the universe was limited in space, but eternal in time, 
was a contradiction that was never resolved, although some 
philosophers sought to distinguish betweerrthe ·eternal gods and 

8 0n the mainly Peripatetic basis of Ptolemy's lore see Bofl (supra n.7) 
68-111. 

9 See A. Ehrhardt, "Creatio ex nihilo," Studia Theologica 4 (Lund 1950) 13-
43, esp. 22-26. But the position held by Plato has been much discussed: J. 
Mansfeld, The Pseudo-Hippocratic Tract Ilepi ef38oJ11!t8wv ch. 1-11 and Greek 
Philosophy (Assen 1971) 128-129. M. Baltes, 'Teyovev {Platon, Tim. 28 B 7). 
1st die Welt real entstanden oder nicht?" in Polyhistor. Studies in the History 
and Historiography of Ancient Philosophy presented to Jaap Mansfeld, edd. K. A. 
Algra, P. W. van der Horst, D. T. Runia (Leiden 1996) 76-96, with rich bibliog-
raphy in n.2. .. 

! : 

WOLGANG HUBNER 63 

a universe that was extended in time but had neither beginning 
nor end. 
3. The third axiom was the central position of the earth despite 
some attempts to move the earth from this sure and fixed 
position. 

(a) First, the Pythagorean Philolaos postulated in the middle 
of the universe an unseen fire (which was not the sun), around 
which the seven planets plus the earth and an unseen "anti­
earth" ( av'tixSrov) revolve. In this way he arrived at the holy 
Ten ( 8ex:a~) of the Pythagoreans. But Plato and his students felt 
uneasy with this idea, and they stopped the alleged motion of 
the earth. 

(b) It is not clear whether Herakleides Pontikos, in his lively 
dialogues, discussed the revolution of the earth around the sun, 
but he surely discussed its daily rotation. 

(c) The first actual heliocentrist was Aristarchos of Samos, 
who put the sun in the very center of our planetary system (in 
which he was right, though his view that the sUn was the center­
of the universe was wrong). Aristarchus had some followers like 
Seleukos of Babylon, but neither Hipparchos nor Ptolemy ac­
cepted his theory. The main reason that seemed to refu!e it was 
that one could not observe any parallax of the fixed stars: i.e., if 
the earth circled around the sun, the stars would have to appear 
during the movement of the earth every day mi.der a different 
angle; but one had !o-wait for the year 1838, when Friedrich 
Wilhelm Bessel finally observed the parallax of a fixed star. The 
ancient astronomers were able to determine rather precisely the 
distance of the moon from the earth; but the distances of the 

\ 

sun, the planets, and even the fixed stars were so inconceivably 
huge that all attempts to determine them failed. The authority 
of Hipparchos condemned the heliocentric theory to remaining 
only a transitory, discarded idea. 

But in another sense antiquity was fairly aware of the vanish­
ingly tiny extent of the earth in relation to the immense cosmic 

/ 



64 THE PTOLEMAIC VIEW OF THE UNIVERSE 

distances. It was not only the middle {'to Kev-cpov, the center), 
but also a O"TH.LEtov (the cross-point of two straight lines without 
any extension), in Latin punctus orpunctum.l° Considering this 
infinitely small size, the moralizing Stoics warned man to 
recognize the vanity of all human glory (and all imperialis,tic 
expansion, too) and appealed for modesty in all human affairs. 
4. More eagerly than in the other philosophical schools, the 
Platonists had discussed the order of the seven planets (the 
luminaries sun and moon included), and here we encounter 
many different proposals.11 It was fairly easy to describe the 
motion of the moon, the only true "planef'' in the ancient sense 

I 

(that is: turning around the earth); it was also less difficult to 
describe the orbits of the three exterior planets (Saturn, Jupiter, 
and Mars) with their rather slow and rather regular motions­
apart from their turning back when they are seen in opposition 
to the sun; but it was extremely difficult to understand the 
rapid motions of Mercury and Venus, which are always near the 
sun, so that for these two companions of the sun also helio­
satellitic systems were proposed. Ptolemy adopts a system 
attested since Archimedes in the third century B.c.,12 which 

10See M. Federspiel, "Sur un emploi de semeion dans les mathematiques 
grecques," in Sciences exacfes et sciences appliquees ii Alexandrie, ed. G. Argoud 
et J.-Y. Guillaumin (Saint-Etienne 1998) 55-72. In astronomy: crr]!Jriov: Geminos 
16.29 n yap ri1 ~EO"TI K:Ettat tOU O"U~7tUVtO<; 1(00"~0'1) crn~dou ta~tv E7tEXOUO"a I 

Kleomed. 1.8.57 n K:EVtpou A.6yov E1tEXOUO"a 7tpo<; titv f)A.tax:ftv mpai:pav, et al. 
Both, expr~ssio~s compin~d, ~tol., Synt._ 1.~ p.?.22 x:evtpcp 7tapa7tATtcriro<; ··; 
crn~etou A.oyov EXEt 7tpo<; tTtV trov a1tA.avrov acrteprov cr<patpav , 1.6 p. 21.2 Ota 
tou x:ata to x:evtpov tf\<; yi1<; crn~eiou. Punctum: Cic. Rep. 6.16 quasi punctum 
eius, Sen. Q.Nat. 1 praef 8 and 11, Plin. HN 2.174 mundi puncta ... haec est mate­
ria gloriae nostrae. Macrobius translates crn~ei:ov by signum, Somn. 2.9.9 quasi 
centron puncti obtinet locum ... cum ad caelum terra signum sit, quod dividi non 
pass it in partes. Cf A. Traina, "L' aiuola che ci fa tanto feroci'' [Dante Parad. 
22.151]. Perla storia di un topos," in ·Forma futuri. Studi in .onore del Cardinale 
M. Pellegrino (Torino 1975) 232-250, reprinted in Poeti latini (e neolatini). 
Note e saggifilologici I (Bologna 1975) 305-335, esp. 321-322. . 

11 Burkert 278-300; W. and H. Gundel, "Planeten," RE 20 (1950) 2017-2185; 
J. Tester, A History of Western Astrology (Woodbridge 1987) 166-167 (list). 

12Macr. Somn. 1.19.1-2, 2.3.13. Burkert 297 and n.121. 

WOLGANG HUBNER 

Saturn 

Jupiter --------~ 

Mars 

Venus 

...... 1 

il:l' 
l~ 
i 

- ....... j 

I 
I 
I 
I 
l­
In 
Ia 
l'g 
1>-t 

!2. 
I 
I 
I 
I 
I 

Mercury -----:----' 

moon 

(earth) 

0 
0 
iS: 

three generations 
outer planets 

'female' planets 
inner planets 

Figure 1: The canonical planetary system 

65 

prevailed as the standard system of all astrological handbooks 
and was never questioned by astrologers (see fig. 1). 

This system owes its widespread success to its marvelous 
symmetry, which satisfies a human need for geometrical order. I 
would like to elucida-te this by five points: 

(a) First there is the medial position of the sun amidst the 
seven spheres.13 Although in this system all the eight spheres 
(the spheres of the seven planets and the sphere of the fi~ed 
stars) rotate around the earth and hence the sun moves too it 

. ' 
could be called "heliocentric" in the sense that the celestial body 
that grants all our life is placed in the middle of the scale. Cor-

130ne of the earliest more detailed examples is Philo Quis rer. divin. heres 45 
(III 50 Wendland): ~EO"O<; trov E7ttCx (sc. 7tAavf]trov) "HA.to<;· ~EO"OV o' a'IJtOV ou 
~6vov E7tel ~ecrnv E7tEXEt xroeav, 00<; i]~irocrav ttvE<;, x:aA.ro, &A.A.' Ott x:at 
9epa7tEuecr9at x:al oopu<popei:crtJat 7tpo<; imacrms6vtrov ex:atepro9ev &~tro~ato<; 
¥,vex:a x:,at }1EYE9ou<; x:at OO<pEAEtOOV' &.<; tOt<; E7ttydot<; U7tUO"t 1tUPExEt, oix:ato<; 
aA.A.ro<; EO"tt. 

/ 



66 THE PTOLEMAIC VIEW OF THE UNIVERSE 

responding to the distance from earth, the Pythagorean har­
monists also attributed to the sun the fifth musical interval, 
which they called !J.EO'll, "the middle.''~ 4 

(b) On each side of the medial sun we find a triad of planets: 
The triad of the exterior planets15 isconstituted by three male, 
deities of three generations: Kp6vo~-Saturn (the old grand­
father), Zeu~-Jupiter (the middle-aged father), and ~'Ap11~-Mar~ 
(the young son). A prognostic correspondence to the three gen!... 
erations is attested already in the early astrologer Sudines in the 
third century B.c.16 When in 1781 the first new planet was 
discovered by the Hannoverian William Herschel, it was-named 
for the moment for its discoverer, "Herschel"-who himself 
proposed the panegyric name of his sovereign, King George III, 
Georgium sidus. But afterwards Greek mythology prevailed, and 
the new planet was called "Uranus," a very elegant solution, 
not only because Uranos was the father of Kronos (so that the 
series of generations was expanded to four), but also because al­
ready in antiquity, beyond the sphere of Saturn one ascended to 
that of the heaven, oupav6~, whose wife Gaia, since Coperni-
cus, had advanced to being a planetP . 

The triad of the inner planets (moon, Mercury, and Venus) 
form a less coherent group, but the need for symmetry 
assimilated their characters one to another. They move more 
quickly and, at least for an observer on earth, less regularly than 
the exterior planets. The moon, more fanciful, deviates up to the 
north and down to the south of the ecliptic, hence its "lunatic" 

14C. v. Jan, "Die Harmonie der Spharen," Philologus 52 (1894) 13-37, esp. 
23; Burkert 297. 

15Called by Ptol. Apotel. 3.8.3 'Avcbcwpe~: see W. Hubner, "Astrologie et 
mythologie dans la Tetrabible de Ptoh~mee d' Alexandrie," in Sciences exactes 
(supra n.10) 325-345. 

16 W. Hubner, "Zum Planetenfragment des Sudines (Pap. Gen. inv. 203)," ZPE 
73 (1988) 33-42. 

17W. Hubner, "Antike in der Astrolo~ie de_~ qegenwart," in Die Antike in der 
europiiischen Gegenwart, ed. W. Ludw1g (Gottmgen 1993) 103-124 and 179, 
esp. 111-112. 

WOLGANG HUBNER 67 

character that antiquity related to the female gender which it 
shares with Venus. So, by esprit de geometrie, Mercury too be­
came at least an hermaphrodite, if not quite a mere female 
planet.18 

(c) In fig. 1 the symmetry between the upper and the lower 
triads becomes even clearer: The two planets near the central 
sun are hot, hence they govern all things that have to do with 
heat: Mars with war and Venus with love. Even today their sym­
bols mark the two genders. We know that already in early times 
Ares and Aphrodite were worshipped together by the Greeks,19 

and the Romans continued to do so, putting them on one lectus 
of the lectisternium, or venerating them in the same temple of 
Mars Ultor. 20 

On the other side, far from the heating sun, we find two cold 
and mostly moist planets, Saturn and the moon. 

In the middle between the central hot and the marginal cold 
planets, two well-moderated planets circulate, the "jovial" 
Jupiter and Mercury, his youngest son (among those born from a­
goddess), who in more than one regard resembles his father. 
Their common moderate temperament tends to laughter,21 and 
when they act together, it results in a tragicomoedia like the 
Amphitruo of Plautus. 

(d) This perfeCt symmetry of focal energy diminishing from 
the center in two directions resembles the now better known 
symmetry of the five terrestrial zones, with the hot tropics in the 
middle, the northern und the southern temperate zones, and at 
the extemes the arctic and the antarctic regions. It may be that 

\ 
18 A. Bouche-Leclercq, L'Astrologie grecque (Paris 1899) 103-104 (hereafter 

BOUCHE-LECLERCQ). 
19W. Burkert, "Das Ued von Ares und Aphrodite. Zum Verhaltnis von Odys­

see und Ilias," RhM 103 (1960) 130-144, esp. 133 and n.6. Cf 0. Weinreich, 
"Zwolfgotter," Roscher, Lex. VI (1924-1937) 764-848 [= Ausgewiihlte Schr. II 
555-664]. 

20 E. Simon, Die Cotter der Romer (Munich 1990) 140. 
21 0ne looks in vain for the laughter of these gods inD.Amould, Le rire et les 

larmes dans la litterature grecque d'Homere a PTaton (Paris 1990). 

/ 



68 . 

West 

THE PTOLEMAIC VIEW OF THE UNIVERSE 

North 

northern polar region 

Jupiter 

northern temperate zone 

Mars 

-------------------------East 

tropics 

Venus 

southern temperate zone 

Mercury 

southern polar region 

South 

Figure 2: The five terrestrial zones paralleling the five true planets 

the heavenly symmetry was invented in imitation of the ter­
restrial one.22 In late antiquity these five zones of the earth were 
paralleled with the five true planets (apart from the two 
luminaries), as shown in fig. 2 (Achilles Isag. 29 Maass). . 

The northern hemisphere is ruled by the traditional male tnad 
of the three generations: the polar region is given to the old and 
cold Saturn, the temperate zone to the temperate Jupiter, and 
the tropics to Mars who replaces the central sun (which itself 

22There is only a weak hint on this in Philo (supra n.13)~1lecrov 8' au~ov ou 
1-LOVOV E7tcl 1-LE<JT]V E7tEXEl xwpav, m<; T,~irocr&v .'tt~£<;, KaAro. _Se~,w. ~ubner, 
"Geographischer ul!d astrologischer Zonenbenff m der Anhke, Berzchte zur 
Wissenschaftsgeschzchte 24 (2001) 13-28. 

, , , , , , , , , , , , ., , , , , , , , , , , ., ., ",,,",,.,, ,,,,,", ,, , • • • u • •'' u'' • • • u • • u u • • • • • u u ,m • • "'-" '!NM .......................................... """'i 

WOLGANG HUBNER 

Figure 3: Elements and planetary spheres 
Laurent.Med.Pal. 89 fol. 7v 

69 

remains out of consideration here). In the southern hemisphere 
in descending order it is Venus's turn, who gets the southern tem­
perate zone, so that in a regular parallelism the two beneficent 
planets, Jupiter and Venus, govern the two temperate zones. 
The antarctic region is given to Mercury, who is often en­
countered in a final position: he governs the last age of the 
world (Firm. Math. 3.1.14), the little finger, and so on. 23 The 
author of the geographical analogy, however, appeals to the fact 
that the southern part of the earth was invisible for the ancients 
just as Mercury is difficult to observe (Achill. Isag. 29 p.65.9 
a<pavfls). 

23 Anon. CCAG VII (1908) 239.5 and 244; cf. W. Hubner, "Manilius als 
Astrologe und Dichter," ANRW II.32.1 (1984) 126-320, esp. 264 n.433. 



70 THE PTOLEMAIC VIEW OF THE UNIVERSE 

dry moist 

hot fire air 

cold earth water 

&£poe; 

Figure 4: Quadripartite system of the elements 
(Ptolemy, Ins.Can. p.l54.9-10) 

(e) In some sources (in the Kanobus inscription and in Neo­
Platonic authors24) we find the four elements interpolated 
between the earth and the moon (jig. 3). This order was facili­
tated by the homonymy of the term "earth," either celestial 
body or one of the four elements. The astrologers rejected 
Aristotle's quinta essentia, but accepted the widespread system 
of tl).e four elements that can be arranged in a' two-dimensional 
figure, either according to the opposition hot-cold or according 
to the opposition dry-moist (fig. 4). The various sources fre- · 
quently disagree about which element held the final position: 
usually it was occupied by the earth/5 because (as the homony­
mous celestial body) it constitutes the inner and the lowest part 
of the universe. In this way the two "flow" elements, air and 
water, mediate between the fire of the stars_on one side and the 

•• 
24 Pt<;JL Ins.c;an. p.154.9-10 Heiberg; cf I. During, Ptolemaios und Porphyrios 

uber 1ze Mu~zk (Goteborg 1934) 281-282. See aiso Salustios Ilept Se&v 6; 
Chalcld. In Tzm. 178 p.207.6-9; Boeth. Cons. 4 m.l. · 

25 Parmenides ap. A~ist. Gen.Corr. 2.3 330b2; Pl. Ti. 32B, etc. It is only in the 
last <;Jf the many varym~ enum~rati~:>ns in. Timaeus that the order appears ac­
co~dmg ~o alle.ged heavmess: frre-arr-water-earth. This order became authori­
tative With Anstotle: Cael. 1.3 269b28 etc., Meteor. 1.2 339a15. For the varying 
order of the two lower elements, Burkert 62-63· R. Klibansky E Panofsky F. 
Saxl, Saturn and Melancholy (London 1964) 64. ' ' · ' · 

WOLGANG HUBNER 71 

elements triplicities social classes 

fire 

air 7W.PlJY6!10Vl1COV 

wa - earth - ter 

Figure 5: The hierarchy of the four elements 

solid and ponderous earth on the other.26 Rarely the final 
position was occupied by wat-er, because one might penetrate 
deeper into the sea than into the earth, and because the 
sharpest contrast was see~ between fire and water, and water 
in general was associated with perishableness. It was this 
hierarchy that the astrologers adopted without any further dis­
cussion.27 · · · -

Between the two low and female elements, earth and water, 
one ascends through the mediating air up to fire, the element of 
the stars and the divine part of the human soul as well (jig. 5). 

2. Astrology and Geography 
Geography was not included in the seven liberal arts, but 

Varro (and after him·Martianus Capella) treated it together 
with geometry.- Martian us Capella calls geometry with a Pla-

26 Astrology empl?yed this system, so far ~scan be seen, only in relation to 
the four cardmal pomts, where the earth receives the lower culrillnation (imum 
caelum): Anon. CCAG I (1900) p.158.13-16. · 

. 
27 Arist. Sens.-? 443a10. In astrolo&y:.W. Hubner (supra n.23) 154-155 and 

n.103. For the hierarchy of the zodiacal triplicities see Hubner Die Eigen­
schaften der Tierkreiszeichen in der Antike. Ihre Darstellun_g und 'verwendung 
unt.er besonderer Berilcksichtigung des Manilius (Sudhofjs Archiv Beih. 22 
[Wiesbaden 1982]) 206-210 §4.21. 

/ 



"""'[~-~~--~-~~ ......... ---------------
72 

n:ocr6v 

THE PTOLEMAIC VIEW OF THE UNIVERSE 

JCatt' eam6 
(JlOVJl) 

arithmetic geometty 

-4-------+-----------] .... 1tT)Al1COV 

music astronomy 

(<pop&) 
n:po<;'fi.')J..o 

Figure 6: The four mathematical artes liberales 
arranged by Nicomachus of Gerasa 

tonic metaphor the "sister of astronomy,"28 and if we consider 
the speculative two-dimension system of Nicomacli.os of Ger­
asa29 (jig. 6), which shows the same structure as that of the four 
elements in Jig. 4, we see that geometry and astronomy both 
deal with quantities (!lc.y£911), but differ in that geometry deals 
with absolute quantities that do not move, and astronomy with 
relative and moving quantities that are related to other things. 
Hence not only astronomy and geometry, but also astronomy 
and geography were closely linked in antiquity (and even in 
modern times our geographical atlases usually contain maps of 
the sky). In order to determine the geographical latitude and­
with more difficulty~longitude (the meridian), one had to use 
sundials and horologia along with astronomical knowledge. So 
Germaine Aujac is right when she states that "astronomie (voire 
meme astrologie) et geographie vont toujours de pair" (8): 

2 BMart. Cap. 6.581, ger;rzanae ipsius Astr?nomiae. Ptol~my uses this Platonic 
expression for the two h1ghest senses, seem~ and hearmg (Harm. 3.3 p.94.1 
Diiring), Ka8an:ep ro<; af...T]6&<; &oeA.q>at yevoJ.lEVro, and us~s a ~th~r.~etapho~ __ 
f~r tJ;eir offsping, ,ari~etic a_nd,geometrr fp.9_4.18), avE'If~at o ??~1tE~ Kat 
auwt, yEVOJ.lEVat JlEV El; aoeA.cprov O'lfEOO<; Kat !XKOT]<;, n:SpaJ.lJ.lEVat OE ro<; erru­
tatro 7tp0<; yeVOU<; i.l1t' apt8J.!T]ttlcr\<; tE K!Xt yEOOJlEtpta<;. 

_ 29 Arithm. 1.3.1-2, quoting in what follows the Pythagoreans Androkydes 
and Archytas; see Hubner (supra n.1) 52-55. , 

WOLGANG HUBNER 73 

One must never forget that in antiquity the sky was much 
better known than the earth. Farmers and navigators observed 
the movements of the stars that served as a common calendar. 
Except for the southern polar region, in clear weather the sky 
was always visible from all countries, but the earth beyond the 
Mediterranean area was unknown, and the reports of the ex­
plorers often were fantastic and could not be verified. 

Today, to the contrary, almost all parts of the earth have been 
discovered. We know much more about the universe than in 
antiquity, and every day the television news shows us the 
terrestri'al globe from that astronautical perspective which the 
Ciceronian Scipio could only see in a dream. Only a very small 
number of persons even of higher education recognize the 
motion of the fixed stars, or know the order of the planets-not 
to mention the strange order of our planetary week which we 
use every day. 

Hence globes of the sky historically precede those of the earth, 
and they were much more frequent in antiquity.30 In the Renais­
sance the two globes got equal rights, so that every important 
library proudly exhibited a pair of equally shaped globes: one of 
the sky and one of the earth (jig. 7). But in our homes the 
terrestrial globe prevails, and if there is a celestial one, this 
is-rather than for-·the study of the stars-for superficial 
decoration. To put it briefly: today our knowledge and our way 
of life are more "geocentric" than in antiquity. 

Ptolemy wrote first the Syntaxis and then the Apotelesmatica 
(better known under the title Tetrabiblos), but his Geographia only 
at the very end of his life, and it seems that this work remained 
unfinished. It had a similar fate in modern times, for there is no 
critical edition after that of Nobbe (Leipzig 1843-1845).31 One 

30 A. Schlachter, Der Globus. Seine Entstehung und Verwendung in .der An­
tike, ed. F. Gisinger (Leipzig/Berlin 1927). 

31 It is only recently that Alfred Stiickelberger (Bern), with international col­
laboration, has begun a new critical edition. 



74 THE PTOLEMAIC VIEW OF THE UNIVERSE 

Figure 7: Celestial and terrestrial globes in the 
Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbiittel (1650) 

may compare the great French edition of Pliny the Elder, which 
began to appear just after the Second World War.32 The most 
recent volumes have been very slow to appear; Books 3-6 
concern geography.33 The enormous mass of numbers and exotic 
names causes many editorial difficulties. In his Geographia Ptol­
emy enumerates not less than about 8,100 names of localities, 
which he entered in 26 maps: 10 maps for Europe, 4 for (nor­
them) Africa, and 12 for Asia.34 

But apart from these difficulties, there is to be observed a tra­
dition in prose works and even more iD~didactic poetry: from 
Eratosthenes and Aratus' Phaenomena to Bonincontrius and 
Pantano in the Renaissance and Alexander von Humboldt in his 
Kosmos, authors follow a descending movement from heaven 

32 The first two volumes, containing Books 1 and 2, appeared in 1950. 
33In 1980 Book 5 part 1 and Book 6 part 2, in 1998 Book 3. 
34 A. Stiickelberger, "Klaudios Ptolemaios," in Geographie und verwandte 

Wissenschaften, ed. W. Hubner (Stuttgart 2000) 185-208. · . 

WOLGANG HUBNER 75 

down to earth, 35 from macrocosm to microcosm, in their single 
works as well as in the sequence of their works,36 and so did 
Ptolemy when he went from the stars down to earth. 

Ptolemy's Geographia is a good example for our statement 
that in antiquity the earth was far less known than the heavens, 
for here he is (and must be) less exact and less reliable than in 
his famous description of the sky in the star-catalogue of his 
Syntaxis. From the earth's surface he embraces only about 80 
latitudinal and 126 longitudinal degrees,37 that is, in a north­
south direction less than half and west-east about one third of 
the surface. Since he rejected the almost exact value of the 
circumference of the earth calculated by Eratosthenes in favor of 
that wrongly calculated by Poseidonios, his model of the earth 
became too small, so that he induced Christopher Colombus, 
who used an edition of Ptolemy's "Cosmographia" (this was 
the Renaissance title of the geographical work) to believe, when 
he arrived in America, that he had discovered India.38 

He is more speculative in his astrological-geography: The 
distribution of the twelve zodiacal signs to the countries of the 
oh:oU)lEVll, in early astrological works, was linked to two other 
locational structures: the melothesia (the distribution the twelve 
signs to the member~ of the human body) and the deorum tutelae 
(the distribution to the six male and six female deities of the 

35See W. Hubner; "Der descensus als ordnendes Prinzip der Naturalis his­
toria des Plinius," in Der Wandel der Enzyklopiidie vom Hochmittelalter zur 
friihen Neuzeit (Miinstersche Mittelalter-Schriften, in press). 

36 For Aratus see W. Ludwig, "Die Phainomena Arats als hellenistischeDich­
tung" Hermes 91 (1963) 425-448, esp. 438 and 448; for Manitius, W. Hubner 
(sup~a n.23) 242-268. Pontano's sequence was: Urania-Meteora-De Hartis 
Hesperidum, and in the first book of his second po~m he ~escend~ fro~ qod ~d 
the heavenly Trinity down to earth: see Laurentius Boruncontnus MllU<l;t~nsis, 
De rebus naturalibus et. divinis. Zwei Lehrgedichte an Lorenzo de' Medzcz und 
Ferdinand von Aragonien, ed. Stephan Hellen (Stuttgart/Leipzig 1999). 

37Stiickelberger (supra n.34) 203-204; J. L. Berggren and A. Jones, Ptolemy's 
Geography: an Annotated Translation of the Theoretical Chapters (Princeton/ 
Oxford 2000) 21. 

38Stiickelberger (supra n.34) 207...:208. 

/ 



7i.6 THE PTOLEMAIC VIEW OF THE UNIVERSE 

Roman lectisternium).39 The numerous systems vary according 
either to the date of their origin or to the political horizon of the 
inventor's native country.40 

In general, the astrological systems combine single planets or 
single zodiacal signs with certain countries (or groups of 
countries), but Ptolemy here differs from all these systems, as he 
differs in many regards from the astrological handbooks of 
Antiochos, Vettius Valens, Firmicus Maternus (the only one 
preserved in Latin), Hephaestion, Paulus Alexandrinus, down 
to Rhetorios in the seventh century. One misses fundamental 
chapters on the qualities of th~ zodiacal signs and -the four 
triangular elements, on the melothesia, the Egyptian decans, the 
paranatellonta, on the draconitic nodes of the moon's orbit 
(treated theoretically in the Syntaxis, 6.6). So Germaine Aujac is 
right when she remarks: "Le non-dit ne manque pas non plus 
d'interet dans l'reuvre de Ptolemee" (22). Nor does Ptolemy 
articulate the habitable world according to the three traditional 
continents attested since Herodotus (Europe/ Asia/Libye= 
northern Africa), although he follows this orbis tripartitus in his 
Geographia (2~8). An application of the three continents to the 
zodiac would have produced a system like that of the three 
squares determining the nature of the four seasons (jig. 8).41 

The middle of the entirely developed seasons is constituted 
by the four "solid" signs: Taurus for spring/Leo for summer/ 
Scorpio for fall/ Aquarius for winter. This square called "solid" 
or "fixed" is preceded by the "tropical" ("turning") square that 
marks the beginning of the seasons: Aries for spring/Cancer for 
summer{Libra for fall/Capricorn for winter, and is followed by 

39 Hiibner (supra n.23) 237-242. There is also a rare geographical melothesia 
in Ps.-Hippocr. Hebd. 11. · 

40 A rich but not comflete collection of sources is in A. E. Housman on Manil. 
· 4.744-817 (1920), prae . XII-XVII; cf: J.-H. Abry, "Terra e cielo nella geografia 
zodiacale (Manil. 4.585-817)," Sileno 23 (1997) 32-47; G. de Callatay, "La 
geographie zodiacale de Manitius et 1' Eneide de Virgile (Astr. 4,744-817)," 
Latomus 60 (2001) 35-66. 

41 Hiibner (supra n.27) 74-80 §1.311. 

WOLGANG HUBNER 

North 

Cancer 

East Aries 

Capricorn us 

South 

Libm West 

---- ~p07tt1C6v 
__ <nepe6v 
.•.••.••.•. llicrCO!IOV 

Figure 8: The three squares corresponding to the 
three stages of the four seasons 

77 

the "double" signs !_hat mark the end of the seasons and the 
transition to the next: Gemini from spring to summer /Virgo 
from summer to fall/Sagittarius from fall to winter /Pisces from 
winter to spring again. In this way eight ambiguous signs prevail 
over four signs of certain classification. 

But instead of such a threefold system, Ptolemy prefers a 
quadripartition of the zodiac. In this case he had two possibil­
ities:42 either a system of four coherent quarters (or quadrants) 

420n the manifold systems see Hubner (supra n.27) 261-274 §7.17, and 441-
452. 



78 THE PTOLEMAIC VIEW OF THE UNIVERSE 

Cancer 

Capricomus 

Figure 9: The four quarters of the zodiac distributed to the 
four edges of the world (AllAM) 

or a triangular system with four so-called triplicities of alternat­
ing signs.. Although the four quarters correspond to the four 
seasons of our solar year, in astrology they were rarely. related 
to the four edges of the world (fig .. 9) .. 43 The main directions are 
generally enumerated cross-wise, so th~Lthe first letters of their 
Greek names, spelled in the order east-west and north-south, 
'AvawA.~-~ucrtc;-"ApK't"oc;-MmllJl~pia, form th~ acronym 
A~AM .. 44 But Ptolemy, like most other astrologers, disdains this 
simple analogy in favor of a more complicated triangular 

43 Hubner (supra n.27) 264-265 §7.171.2, cf 82-87 §1.32. 
44 F. Dornseiff, Das Alphabet in Mystik und Magi!? (Leipzig/Berlin 1925); -

Hubner (supra n.27) 268-270 §7.172.14. 

WOLGANG HUBNER 

North 

Cancer 

East Aries 

Capricorn us 

South 

Libra West 

........• fire 
--air 
_earth 
-·-·- water 

Figure 10: The four edges of the world and the four elements 
corresponding to the four triangles of the zodiac 

79 

system. In this arrangement the peoples of the same group are 
not crowded together in the four quarters, but spread all over 
the zodiac, according to the alternating order of the four 
triplicities. · _. 

We know ten or (eliminating simple errors) a least nine such 
systems that distribute the four edges of the world to th~ four 
tropical signs, that is the cardinal signs of the four triangles. The 
earliest of these systems goes back to Geminos,45 the most 
widespread is attested from Antiochos on,46 who probably was 

45 Geminos 2.8-11: see Hubner (supra n.27) 261 §7.171.11. 
46 Antiochos CCAG VIII 3 (1912) p.112.23-26: see Hubner (supra n.27) 261-

262 §7.171.13. 

/ 



80 THE PTOLEMAIC VIEW OF THE UNIVERSE 

Ptolemy's contemporary. Moreover, it combines the four ele­
ments (fig. 10). This system starts from .the vertical difference of 
the two tropical signs (in the true sense) that confine the zodiac: 
Cancer in the north and Capricorn in the south. These two 
tropical signs rule the two female triplicities of water and of 
earth. While this distribution is clear, the horizontal difference 
east-west changes every time, for across the eastern and 
western horizon pass all rising and setting stars. In this system, 
of the two remaining male triplicities the fiery triplicity of Aries 
is assigned to the rising east and the opposite airy triplicity of 
Libra to the setting west. 

The German scholar Franz Boll, the redistoverer of Ptolemy 
and the explorer of ancient astrology in general, supposed that 
Ptolemy wanted to relate these zodiacal triangles to geo­
graphical ones;47 but this opinion has been rightly rejected by 
Richard Uhden.48 Ptolemy accorded the greatest importance not 
to the zodiacal signs but to the planets that rule these signs or 
their triplicities. He developed this in two different chapters, 
more generally in Book 1, in more detail in Book 2, where he 
considers 72 countries, that is, not less than six countries for 
each sign on the average. 

(a) Chapter 1.19 
Astrologers who tried to distribute the seven planets on the 

circle of the twelve zodiacal signs were troubled by the fact that 
the numbers 7 and 12 (or 4) are incompatible. One solution was 
found in the system of the twelve so-caHed "planetary houses" 
(fig. 11).49 After subtracting the two luminaries (sun and moon) 
and giving the sun to the Lion and the moon to the Crab (jig. 11 
bottom), there remained ten signs that easily could be 

47 Boll (supra n.9) 194-204. 
48 "Das Erdbild in der Tetrabiblos des Ptolemaios," Philologus 88 (1933) 

302-325, esp. 304-305. ~ , 
49 Bouche-Leclercq 188-189. 

WOLGANG HUBNER 

6 Toul dt6c; 
I 

I 
6 TOU : 'AQEWc; 

I 

I . 
6 Tijc; l.l\.cpQoliiTqc; 

I 

I 
6 TOU : 'EQI.JOU 

I 

.fl <rEAftVIJ : 6 iJAtO<; 

@ I 

nox dies 

F6 

m 

Figure 11: The planetary houses of the tWelve zodiacal signs 

81 

distributed to the five remaining true planets in such a way 
that-in the usual descending order from Saturn to Mercury­
every planet gets two_ houses: on the right side, starting from the 
sun's Lion, the. day house, and on the left, starting from the 
moon's Crab, the night house. 

We need this sys-tem of the planetary houses to understand 
Ptolemy's rulers of the four triplicities, which also have a ruler 
by day and a ruler by night (jigs. 11 and 12).50 

1. The first triplicity (consisting of Aries-Leo-Sagittarius) is 
governed by day by the sun; the Lion's ruler, and at rlight by 
Jupiter, the daytime ruler of Sagittarius. 
2. The second triplicity (Taurus-Virgo-Capricorn) is governed by 
day by Venus, the Bull's nighttime ruler, and at night by the 

50 Bouche-Leclercq 199-206. 

/ 



82 THE PTOLEMAIC VIEW OF THE UNIVERSE 

.... 
[> [> [> 

.... [> 
~ 

"'" 
,(,) N ...... 

n: 
~ 

§~ ff: 
<>-l ~~ roPJ N ::l ~ PJ ..... 

0 .... ro ~ .... 'J)'JJ R. ro 'JJ~ :::;· .... .... . 'JJ '"' '< !:!. 
' 

~w <r-< ~~ 'Jlt""' "' ro ..... §~ o<;· PJO :;lcr" ro .... ;:: ........ ~ .... >-ti)Q 

"' 'JJ"' 'JJPJ ao s· I .... I '< 

<~ CJ))> CJ)(J '-<C/) 6 rom ~..0 ~~ -6~ ~ ::ln ~ ~ ~= .... ,_..1-'. 'JJ ~ro --.... PJ 3 ;:;· ro- ro 'Jj'Jl ::l 1:!. >-tPJ 'JJ 
~ 0 .... .... ;:· 'JJ ::l 

I= 'JJ 
'JJ 

$~ C/) < 'JJ 
~;:! PJ ro § ::lPJ - § R.-~ .... I= 
~~ .... 'JJ'JJ ::l 'JJ 

§[ .... ~ § '--< tzi:! '<ro -s. .... ;::~ 
l"l rt € .... ~ .... I ~ 

s ~~ CJ)ro <~ '-'::l R. PJPJ -BQ ~:~ § PJ ro -rn ~~ ...,rn ~=-
..... _ 

'JJ- .... ~Ef' @":T ~s· ::l .... s· 
;:: 

<'JJ '-'::l CJ)ro ~~ "' roO -BQ PJPJ R."> 
-rn PJro 

__ ,., 
::l ~ ..... _ 

~=- . ~-co-·~~~ ~g ~Ef' (t:T .... 
;:;.R. .... :::1 
c·~ 
;::~ 

C/) z C/) 

~ 
;:1 

~ tri tri >;· 
"' R. 

~ 

WOLGANG HOBNER 

Jupiter 
septentrio 

Aries 
Leo 
Sagittarius 

meridies 
Venus 

Ge~ini 
Libra 
Aquarius 

Figure 13: The planetary rulers of the four triplicities 
(Ptol. Apotel. 1.19) _, 

83 

moon which has no relation to any of the three signs, but 
together with Venus is the other nocturnal planetaccording to 
the classification into diurnal and nocturnal planets (jig. 14).51 

3. The third triplicity (Gemini-Libra-Aquarius) is governed by 
day by Saturn, the nighttime ruler of Aquarius, and at night by 
Mercury, the Twin( __ nighttime ruler. 
4. The fourth triplicity (Cancer-Scorpio-Pisces) is ruled by Mars 
by day and by night as well. This reveals the difficulty arising 
from the fact that twice four rulers are needed, but there, are 

\ 

only seven planets to use, so that for the last triplicity one 
planet is lacking. Ptolemy backs out of the business by joining to 
Mars his old companion Venus (and moreover the moon), the 
other nocturnal planets according to fig. 14, so that the co-ruler 
of the triplicity is Venus by day and the moon by night. 

51 Ptol. Apotel. 1.7 and Bouche-Leclercq 103-104. 



84 THE PTOLEMAIC VIEW OF THE UNIVERSE 

lurrtinary beneficent plant· maleficent planet 

day sun Jupiter Saturn 

ambiguous Mercury 

night moon Venus Mars 

Figure 14: Daytime planets and nighttime planets 

(Ptol. Apotel. 1.7) 

In a second step Ptolemy distributes the triangular rulers to 
the edges of the world. As each of the four triplicities has two 
planetary rulers, the directions are also divided in two: a main 
direction ruled by a main ruler (oh:oDtcr1tO'tl)~) and a secondary 
direction ruled by a co-ruler (cruvoucoDE<m6-rl)~), so that the four 
combinations of two directions form four quarters of the circle: 
north-west/south-east/north-east/south-west. In this way Ptol­
emy combines the triangular system with the quaternary system 
(jigs. 13 and 15). 
1. The first triplicity owes its mainly northern direction to 
Jupiter, the daytime ruler of Sagittarius, and its secondary 
western direction to Mars, the nighttime ruler of Aries. These 
two directions form together the north-western qparter. 
2. The opposite second triplicity owes its mainly southern direc­
tion to Venus, the nighttime ruler of the Bull, and its secondary 
eastern direction to Saturn, the daytime ruler of Capricorn. 
These two directions form together the south-eastern quarter. 
3. The third triplicity owes its mainly eastern direction to 
Saturn, the nighttime ruler of Aquarius, but its secondary 
northern direction to none of its zodiacal signs. Ptolemyas­
sociates Jupiter, the other diurnal planet according to fig. 14, 
with Saturn. These two directions form together the north­
eastern quarter. 

WOLGANG HUBNER 

tY 

A 

1--l!oeeo'-tl!uK6v 

2 -· -·- VOTa7tllAtldnK6V 

4 

§ 

fD 
2 

~3 

3 -----lloee~'-tlllT1K6v 
4 ••••·•••••••••• VOT0Atj:IUK6V 

Figure 15: Directions of planets and triplicities 
(Ptol. Apotel. 1.19 and 2.3) 

85 

4. The opposite four~triplicity owes its mainly western direc­
tion to Mars, tl}e daytime ruler of Scorpio, and its secondary 
southern direction to Venus, which rules the Fishes, having in 
this sign also its exaltation (u'l'ffii.L<X), which astrologers ex­
plained by the extreme fertility of fish. 52 These two directions 
form together the south-western quarter: 

In fig. 13 we can see that the vertical (north-southern) axis is 
occupied by the two benevolent planets (Jupiter and Venus), 

52 Bouche-Leclercq 195. For the prolific nature of Pisces see Hubner (supra 
n.27} 156-164 §3.321 and 499-502. 



86 THE PTOLEMAIC VIEW OF THE UNIVERSE 

and the horizontal (west-eastern) axis by the two malevolent 
planets (Saturn and Mars). Mercury remains ambiguous as in 
fig. 14. Moreover, the two northern (and upper) quarters are 
governed by the two higher and more efficacious planets Gupiter 
and Saturn), and the two southern (and lower) quarters by the 
two minor and weaker planets (Venus and Mars). In this 

· manner-as elsewhere in astrology-the north prevails over the 
south. 53 

(b) Chapter 2.3 
Chapter 2.3 is the longest of the Apotelesmatika and fills out 

the basic and prelimin'arychapter of Book 1 with geographical 
details. It is divided into two parts. At the beginnng (2.3.3-8) 
Ptolemy repeats the four quarters from the first book, and then 
he treats at full length all the 72 peoples (or countries), that is, 
six countries for each sign on average. Iri the following chapter 
he will sum this up in a short diagram (2.4). 

In the more general beginning each quarter gets two names (jig. 
16). The continents' names are accompanied by a main people's 
country. In order to bring the three continents into a quadrifold 
system, Ptolemy divides the largest, Asia, into two parts, which 
occupy together the two eastern quarters (north-east and south­
east). And as Asia is divided into a ~6pc.wv J.Lepo<; and a v6nov 

J.Lepo<;, also the two southern quarters ar~!inked by the two op­
posing Ethiopias-known since Homer and mentioned by Ptol­
emy also in his Geographia (7.3.1), E<mc.p{a Ai9wiia and £cpa 
Ai8w1tia. Only Europe remains without any link in the north­
western corner, and specified by Gaul (KeA'toyaAa'tta), oppo­
site to LKu9{a on the eastern side. 

53 For example in the system of the commanding and obeying signs: Bouche­
Leclercq 163. Hubner (supra n.27} 67-71 §1.221.4. See also Varro Rust. 1.2.3, 
et sine tiubio quoniam salubrior pars septemtrionalis est quam meridiana, et, quae 
salubriora, illa fructuosiora, 

WOLGANG HUBNER 87 

North 

Ku:coyaA.a:cia I:Kllit(a 
EupWm! MeyliA.lJ 'Aaia 

(f36pewv JlEpOQ 

at M 
West East 

M A2 

AIIJUtt 
E07tspia Ailncmia 

South 

Figure 16: The four quarters and the three continents 

In the following paragraphs (2.3.9-11) Ptolemy establishes 
with great diligence a sort of interpenetration of the effects 
exercised by the respectively cross-opposite quarters of the 
triplicities, the north-western and the south-eastern on one side 
and the north-eastern and the south-western on the other, al­
leging that the marginal peoples of the oiKOUJ.LEVTt are gove.ined 
by the three signs of the triplicity itself, while the peoples 
situated near the center (i.e. near the Mediterranean Sea) assume 
some of the qualities of the opposite triplicity (as shown in the 
inner circle of fig. 16). So the peoples of Europe (in the north­
western triplicity) verging to the center are influenced by the 
qualiti~s resulting from the opposite south-eastern triplicity of 
southern Asia and vice versa; and the peoples· verging to the·· 
center of northern Asia (in the north-eastern triplicity) are 

/ 



88 THE PTOLEMAIC VIEW OF THE UNIVERSE 

influenced by the qualities resulting from the ~pposite south­
western triplicity of Libya (northern Africa). 

All the parts of the four quarters verging to the center are 
governed not only by the rulers of their respective triplicities, 
but also as an additional influence, by Mercury, who grants to 

I s__. . • 

these central peoples their faculty of eloquence, humamty, and 
civilisation, because this god unifies them: oux 'tO f.lEcrov Kat 
Kotvov au'tov imapxetv (2.3.n) . 
. So we find two subsequent binary determinations:~first that of 

the two main directions (between north and west, for example), 
and second between the more marginal and the more central 
position. To thes~ cross-related influences we may compare ch. 
1.9, where each brillant star (or each little part of the constella­
tions) is determined not by a single planet, but by the influence 
of a main planet and "a little bit" (i]pef.la) of a secondary 

planet.54 

What Ptolemy explains in the following is too detailed to be 
repeated here. Take as an example Europe, which belongs to the 
north-western triplicity (2.3.12-21). In all Ptolemy enumerates 
eleven regions: Britain, Transalpine Gaul, Germany, Bastarnia 
(the southern parts of Russia plus southern Poland), Italy, 
Cisalpine Gaul, Apulia, Sicily, Tyrrhenia (i.e. Tuscany), Celtica 
(perhaps western Spain), and Spain in general. Since the first 
triplicity is called "ruling" (apxtK6v:se~fig. 5) and its gover­
nors are Jupiter (for the north) and Mars (for the west: see fig. 
13), these peoples are said to be in general independent, liberty­
loving, fond of arms, industrious, very warlike with a tendency 

to leadership, and so on.55 

54Apotel. 1.9 and the brillant commentary by F. Boll, Antike Beobachtungen 
farbiger Sterne (AbhMiinch 30.1 [1916]). , . . 

. 552.3.13, aVU1tO'tch::tot~ 'tE etvat KCtt qnAEAE'Il9EpOt~ Kat q>tA01tAOt~ Kat <ptA.o-
1tOVOt~ Kat 1tOAEJltKO>'t<X'tOt~ Kat lJYEJlOVtKOt~ Kat Ka9apiot~ Kat JlEYaAO\jfUXOt~. 

WOLGANG HUBNER 89 

In order to make specific this general statement, Ptolemy re­
lates the different countries to the three individual signs of the 
triplicity (Aries-Leo-Sagittarius): 
1. To the Ram and its nighttime ruler (Mars) belong the regions 
of four ferocious races: Britain, Transalpine Gaul, Germany, Bas­
tarnia, "whence their inhabitants in general are fiercer, more 
headstrong, and bestial."56 

2. To the Lion and its ruler (the sun) belong the countries of four 
more civilized races: Italy, Apulia, Sicily, Cisalpine Gaul: "be­
cause these peoples tend more to leadership, being benevolent 
and cooperative."57 

3. To the Archer and his daytime ruler. (Jupiter) belong the 
peoples of Tyrrhenia, Celtica, Spain: "whence their indepen­
dence, simplicity, and love of cleanliness."58 

After distributing these three groups ofdistant peoples to the 
three signs of the north-western triplicity, Ptolemy considers 
eight other peoples situated near the Mercury-influenced central 
region of the oiKOUf.lEV1'J: Thrace, Macedonia, Illyria, Bellas (i.e. 
northern Greece), Achaia (southern Greece: the Peloponnese), 
Crete, the coastal regions of Asia Minor, Cyprus. Since these 
regions are placed in the south-eastern angle of the north­
west.em quarter, the principally north-western character of the 
subjacent peoples islinpregnated with qualities of the opposite 
south-eastern quarter governed by the second triplicity (Taurus­
Virgo-Capricorn) and its planetary rulers Venus and Saturn, 
where one must add the rulership of the central and ubiqui­
tously working Mercury. Since the influences of the two op­
posite triplicities are overlapping, the inhabitants reveal a 
mingled constitution of body and soul. 59 

I 

562.3.15, _i59ev ch~ E1tt1taV oi EV au'tat~ ayptell'tEpot Kat au9ao£cnepot Kat Snpt-
roOEt~ 't'llYXaVO'IlcrtV. . 

572.3.16, oi.61tep TJYEJlOVtKot J.L<iA.A.ov oil'tot Kat euepyenKot Kat KowrovtKoi. 
582.3.16, o9ev 'tO <ptAEAEU9epov autot~ Kat a1tAOUV Kat <ptAOKa9apov. 

. 59 2.3.18, KEKpaJlEVOt tot~ 'tE <JcOJ.La<Jt Kat 'tat~ tjf'llXat~. 

/ 



90 THE PTOLEMAIC VIEW OF THE UNIVERSE 

He then describes the effects that the zodiacal signs .and their 
planetary rulers exercise on ethnicity. On the whole, these 
central peoples owe to Mars (the planet ruling the west) their 
tendency to leadership, nobility, and independence, and to 
Jupiter (the planet ruling the north) their liberty-loving; self­
governing, and democratic character that induces them to estab­
lish many laws.60 

So much for the peoples situated more on the periphery of the 
north-western triplicity. As to·the peoples placed in the central 
angle, the influence of their own triplicity js overlapped by that 
of the opposite south-eastern triplicity: thanks to Venus (the 
ruler of the second triplicity) the inhabitants are lovers of music 
and learning, fond of contests and of pure life, and thanks to 
Mercury (the daytime ruler of the Virgin, one partner of the 
second triplicity) they are social, friendly to strangers, justice­
loving, fond of writing, and very efficacious in eloquence.61 

Here again Ptolemy modulates the different characters accord­
ing to the three individual zodiacal signs: 
1. To the Bull and to Venus (his nighttime ruler) belong the 
Cyclades, the shores of Asia Minor, and Cyprus, the "Aphrodis­
ian" island (it is well known that Venus was a marine goddess 
and worshipped particulary in harbours, centers of prostitu­
tion). Hence Ptolemy concludes: "For this reason they are, on 
the whole, luxurious, clean, and attenti"\T~Jo their bodies."62 ' 

60 2.3.18-19, lJYE!lOVtKot !lEV ... Ko:t yevvo:'iot Ko:l. avu1to'to:K'tot Ota 'tov wu 
"Apero~, qnA.eA.euSepot OE Ko:l. o:u't6vo!lot Ko:l. on!loKpo:nKol. Ko:l. vo!loSenKol. Ota 
'tOV 'tOU L'n6~. 

61 2.3.19, cptAO!lOUCfot OE KO:t qnA.o!lo:Se'i~ KO:t qnA.o:yrovtcr'to:t KO:t Ko:S&ptot 'tO:t~ 
oto:ho:t~, oto: 'tov 'tTl~ 'A<ppoohn~, KotvrovtKoi 'te Ko:l. <ptA.O~evot Ko:l. <ptA.ooiKo:tot 
Ko:t <pi.A.oyp&!l!lO:'tOt Ko:l. ev A.6yot~ 7tpo:KnKro'to:'tot Ota 'tov wu 'Ep11o1>. There is a 
strange addition about mysteries: see n.69 infra. 

62 2.3.20, oi !lEV 1tepl. 'ta~ KuKA.&oo:~ Ko:t 'ta Ilo:p&A.to: 'tTl~ MtKpil~ 'Acrio:~ Ko:t 
Ku7tpov 'tOO. 'tE To:upq> KO:t 'tOO 'tTl~ 'A<ppoohn~ !lilAAOV CfUVOtKEtoUV'tO:t, oSev cbr; ' 
E1tt 'to 1tA.e'icrwv 'tpU<pT\'tO:t etcrt Ko:t Ko:S&ptot KO:t wu CfcO!lO:'to~ E1tt!lEAeto:v 1tOt­
oUJ.l£VOl. The last effect is mentioned already by the Augustan poet Manitius for 
the _Bull, which is considered the_ first female sign and accompanied by th~ seven 

-Pleiades (5.146-147): cura suz cultus frontzsque decorae I semper erzt; see 
Hubner (supra n.27) 542. 

WOLGANG HUBNER 91 

2. To the Virgin and to Mercury (her daytime ruler) belong north­
em and southern Greece and Crete, because "they are better in 
reasoning and fond of learning and exercise the soul in prefer­
ence to the body."63 
3. To the odd Capricorn and to Saturn (his daytime ruler) Ptol­
emy attributes the races of northern Greece: the Macedonians, 
Thracians, Illyrians, "because they are acquisitive, but not so 
gentle, nor social in their institutions."64 In this way the extreme 
southern sign of the south-eastern triplicity (Capricorn) ap­
proaches the fiery character of the primarily determining north-
western triplicity. · · 

This is only the first of the four triplicities concerning Europe 
placed in the north-western part of the oiKOUjlEVll. The influence 
exercised by the opposite second south-eastern triplicity is 
answered by a reciprocal influence fr¢:m the north-western 
triplicity which returns its influence back to the south-east~m 
triplicity. A similar cross-interpenetration combines the. two 
other triplicities: the north-eastern of northern Asia and the 
south-western of Africa. 

The levels of all these manifold parallelisms are extremely 
different: in a sort of spiritual "catch as catch can" astrologers 
picked up whatever they could find to use as a reasonable argu­
ment.65 Let us takeonly three domains concerning mythology, 
religion, and science. The association of Saturn with Venus 
governing the south-eastern triplicity leads to the property 
0"1tEpj.tanK6v ("rich in seed," 2.3.24), and this is based ort the 
aetiological myth of Kror1.0s' genitalia which, thrown into the 
sea, generated Aphrodite. In order to explain the combination of 
the moon with the Amazons, Ptolemy pretends that the female 

63 2.3.21, Oto !lilAAOV AO")'tKOt 'tUJ'XcXVOUCft KO:t <ptAO!lO:Se'i~ KO:t 'tCx 'tTl~ wuxil~ 
acr~ouv'te~ 7tpo 'tou CfcO!lO:'tO~. Cf on the Virgin Manil. 4.194: illa decus linguae 
faczet regnumque loquendi, with Hubner (supra n.27) 561. 

6~23.21, oto <ptAOK'tTt!lO:'tot 11ev, oux ~11epot oE ou'tro~ ouoE KotvrovtKol. w'i~· 
VO!llllQ~. 

65 For further details see Boll (supra n.9) 199-200. 



....,._,...,..,,.-., "'.P"··. 

92 THE PTOLEMAIC VIEW OF THE UNIVERSE 

crcA~Vll has an "oriental and manly shape,"66 although (we may 
add) the moon in general is related to the west.67 

As for, religion, of the two planets of the south-eastern 
triplicity Venus creates, in Egypt, worshippers of Isis, and Sat­
urn, in Asia Minor, worshippers of Mithras-Helios,68 and Venus 
alone hints at mysteries "because of her western shape,"69 

which contradicts her southern position (see fig. 13) and can 
only mean that, as a partisan ~f the moon (see fig. 14), she be­
longs to the night and to the west. 

Finally science: in Babylonia, Mesopotamia, and Assyria the 
Virgin is said to generate astrologers, who observe and calculate 
the motions of the five planets, because the Virgin is the day 

L house ofMercury, the astrologer's planet par excellence?0 

In conclusion, we may ask why Ptolemy preferred this ex­
tremely complicated combination of quarters and triangles 
instead of working with the clearly determined four edges of the 
world. One reason may be that he wanted to counter a serious 
argument advanced against zodiacal geography in general, ' ' 
pronounced since Carneades and Panaitios and repeated by 
Christian writers.71 These critics remarked that all parts of the 
inhabited world are populated with all kinds of mankind, and 
if the stars determined the character and behavior of entire 

662.3.40, oux to til<; O"eA:f}V'll<;; avatoAtKOV Kat iJppeVOOJlEVOV crxilJla. See Boll 
(supra n.9) 201-202. 

672.2.10 of the western re~on, to1ho to JlEpo<;; creAT]VtaKov tuyxavet, Jtavtote 
til<; creATJVTJ<;; tc'x<;; 7tprota<;; e7tttoAa<;; Kat a1to cruv6oou <pavtacria<;; a1to At~o<;; 
1tOtOUJlEVT]<;;. Otc'x ol] tOlltO VUKteptVOV OOKel Kat 9T]AUKOV Kat eUOOVU!lOV, avtt­
KetJleVOV tip avatoAtKcp. In the Amazons we encounter a sort of "antipathy." 

68 2.3.23, cre~oucri te yap tOV JlEv til<; 'A<ppoOttT]<;; 7lcrtv OVOJ.la/;ovte<;;, tOV oe tOU 
Kp6vou Mi9pav "HA.tov. ' 

69 2.3.19, JlUO"tT]pioov oe JlUAtcrta O"UVteAeO"ttKOt Otc'x tOV til<; 'A<ppoOttT]<;; E0"1tE­
ptov O"XllJ.1UttcrJ.l6v. 

70 Hiibner (supra n.23) 127 and n.2. 
71 Panaitios ap. Cic. Div. 2.97, plus terrarum situs quam lunae tractus ad 

nascendum valere (see the parallels given by A. S. Pease ad Zoe.), and principally 
Bardesanes Liber regionum, quoted by Eus. Praep.Evang. 6.10 and by others(= 
FrGrHist 719 F 3). See Boll (supra n.9) 183-187; Bouche-Leclercq 584-58/5. 

WOLGANG HUBNER 93 

peoples, individuals would be more homogeneous. And if, on 
the other hand, foreign individuals move from their homes into 
another country, they do not change, but normally retain their 
original character. Ptolemy counters this criticism with rel­
ativism, the favourite of all astrologers, who cautiously avoided 
predictions too clearly pronounced. Franz Boll72 has shown that 
in the philosophical discussion, here again Ptolemy is not 
original-although he does not depend on Poseidonios, as Boll 
believed-but when he united his astronomical and his geo­
graphical interests relating the variegated terrestrialrtotKtAia of 
mankind to the city of stars (the heavenly Auxv6nol..u;;), and 
when he implemented the general strategy of relativism with an 
extremely sophisticated astrological cross-interdependence of 
opposite triplicities, this seems to have been his own invention. 

June, 2001 Institut fur Alterhunskunde 
Westfalische Wilhelms-Univ. Munster 
D-48143 Miinster, Germany 
huebner®.mi-muenster.de 

72 Boll (supra n.9) 204-235, es_r. 204: "In Wahrheit ist er auch dazu lange 
nicht selbstandig genug gewesen.