For Christmas this year, I have received a few items for use with this project. This has prompted me to think back to Christmas last year and how far I’ve come overall.
The idea for this project had been brewing for some time, but it really kicked off in October of 2017 when I picked up Astronomies and Cultures in Early Medieval Europe. While this source provided a nice overview of the subject, it didn’t provide nearly the detail I knew I wanted to get into. However it did provide the beginnings of a reading list for me.
Thus for Christmas 2017 I received two books that pertained to the project. The first was Timaeus and Critias by Plato which contained a bit about the Greek view of the cosmos as a whole, but was very superficial and barely amounted to a footnote in the grand scheme.
The other was Euclid’s Elements which is a book of mathematical proofs. This one was more useful as proofs contained therein are occasionally used by Ptolemy. However, the text and translation is also online with detailed cross referencing. As such, I’ve almost never used this book.
Thus, a year ago I had a few sources but still lacked direction on the overall project. It wasn’t until May of 2018 that I picked up Kepler’s Astronomia Nova, and while I charged headlong into it, it wasn’t long before I realized that I lacked the foundational knowledge necessary to complete it. This led to two realizations.
The first was that I needed to fully understand Copernicus’ work. But to get there, I would likely need to understand what he was working from, which was Ptolemy’s Almagest. Hence why I leapt backwards to that source1.
The second is that Kepler, while he did not do observational astronomy himself, he firmly believed that his model should match observations precisely. Thus, observations were necessary. While I could certainly pull any observations I needed from planetarium software, this did not fit with my desire to become fully versed in the astronomical practices of the period. As such, I built the astronomical quadrant.
These two pillars have since guided the overwhelming majority of my focus on this project2.
As I look back, I find myself in some disbelief at how far the project has come. At this time last year, I barely had the vague notion of what I wanted to achieve. Now, this project has a clear focus against which I have made substantial headway. I have been blessed with several friends who have contributed their time, support, and encouragement.
Padraig, who has often helped me puzzle through particularly challenging portions of the Almagest, as well as been my most dedicated and prolific observing companion.
Slaine, who helped me transport the quadrant to observe before I had a vehicle large enough to do so, and who has also contributed to observations.
Gwendolyn, who has often been a source of encouragement and graced me with a Baroness’ Order of Patronage.
Fiondel, who has also helped transport the quadrant.
Auga, who has begun to contribute to observations.
A year ago I had no idea what this project was headed and this rabbit hole turned out to be far deeper than I ever anticipated. It literally would not be possible without the help and support of these friends.
- And in the ~9 months since I started working on the Almagest, I’m 11.27% of the way through.
- While I have acquired several books that fall outside those areas (as seen in my library), they are mostly ones that I found an excellent price on and picked up for later use.