A history of Greek mathematics - Wilbourhall.org

274 TRIGONOMETRY
the superlative /xeyicrTos, made up a word Al-majisti, which
became Almagest ; and it has been known by this name ever
since. The complicated character of the system expounded
by Ptolemy is no doubt responsible for the fact that it
speedily became the subject of elaborate commentaries.
Commentaries on the Syntaxis.
Pappus 1 cites a passage from his own commentary on
Book I of the Mathematica, which evidently means Ptolemy's
work. Part of Pappus's commentary on Book V, as well as
his commentary on Book VI, are actually extant in the
original. Theon of Alexandria, who wrote a commentary on
the Syntaxis in eleven Books, incorporated as much as was
available of Pappus's commentary on Book V with full
acknowledgement, though not in Pappus's exact words. In
nis commentary on Book VI Theon made much more partial
quotations from Pappus ; indeed the greater part of the commentary
on this Book is Theon's own or taken from other
sources. Pappus's commentaries are called scholia, Theon's
virofiurj/xaTa. Passages in Pappus's commentary on Book V
allude to ' the scholia preceding this one ' (in the plural), and
in particular to the scholium on Book IV. It is therefore all
but certain that he wrote on all the Books from I to VI at
least. The text of the eleven Books of Theon's commentary
was published at Basel by Joachim Camerarius in 1538, but
it is rare and, owing to the way in which it is printed, with
insufficient punctuation marks, gaps in places, and any number
of misprints, almost unusable ;
accordingly little attention has
so far been paid to it except as regards the first two Books,
which were included, in a more readable form and with a Latin
translation, by Halma in his edition of Ptolemy.
Translations and editions.
The Syntaxis was translated into Arabic, first (we are told)
by translators unnamed at the instance of Yahya b. Khalid b.
Barmak, then by al-Hajjaj, the translator of Euclid (about
786-835), and again by the famous translator Ishaq b. Hunain
(d. 910), whose translation, as improved by. Thabit b. Qurra
1
Pappus, vhi, p. 1106. 13.