In several fields his writings represent the culminating achievement of Greco-Roman science, particularly his geocentric (earth-centered) model of the universe now known as the Ptolemaic system.
Nothing is known about Ptolemy's life except what can be inferred from his writings. His first major astronomical work, the Almagest (from a hybrid of Arabic and Greek, "the greatest"), was completed about A.D 150 and contains reports of astronomical observations which Ptolemy made over the preceding quarter of a century.
The size and content of his subsequent literary production suggests that he lived until about A.D. 170.
John Robertson:
I received your book on 6/26/00. Congratulations on a great book. You no doubt spent a great amount of time in research. I find the book fascinating.
It’s been over 45 years since I studied Latin and Greek in college and unless one keeps it up, one tends to forget. You have rekindled my interest. Now that I’m retired, I’ll have more time. I have always been interested in the origin of words especially from Latin and Greek.
Because the schools do not teach Latin and Greek as they once did, your book would be invaluable in helping students with the English language; thereby enriching their thought process. I am so happy that we still have people in this world who regard knowledge of Latin and Greek essential to scholarly development.
To quote Seneca, Jr. from your book: “Non scholae, sed vitae discimus.” Thank you for your “illusions” and also many thanks to your wife.
Jeffrey
Note from your editor: The “illusions” referred to the dedication in Words for a Modern Age, A Cross Reference of Latin and Greek Combining Elements in which I wrote: “Dedicated to my wife, who has been my sine qua non. She has kept me in good health with her loving concern for my well being and has rarely interfered with my efforts to strive for my ‘illusions.’ ”
The Latin quotation by Seneca, Jr. means: “We don’t learn just for school, but we learn for life.”.
Speaking of books. The following came from "The Spelling Newsletter" published by Ray Laurita, Leonardo Press, PO Box 1326, Camden, ME 04843.
After reading the following exchange which appeared in the Metropolitan Diary, I have a feeling that our readers will be equally dismayed:
Carol Ruth Langer stopped at the information desk of a Barnes & Noble in Midtown to inquire about a copy of the Book of Job.
"How would you be spelling 'Job'?" the clerk asked.
"J -- O -- B", Ms. Langer said.
"Job books are in the career section."
Ms. Langer tried again. "Not job, Job, a book in the Bible".
"Who is the author" the clerk asked.
At that point, Ms. Langer knew it was time to leave.
2. Caveat emptor, quia ignorare non debuit quod jus alienum emit or "Let a purchaser beware, for he ought not to be ignorant of the nature of the property which he is buying from another party."
The well-known shorter version, Caveat Emptor applies to the purchase of land and goods, with certain restrictions, both as to the title and quality of the thing sold. Out of the legal sphere and as a non-legalistic usage, the phrase is used as a warning to a buyer regarding any articles of doubtful quality offered for sale.
This legal terminology means, the purchaser (buyer), not the seller, is responsible for protecting the purchaser (himself or herself) in the transaction. Caveat emptor is the opposite of caveat venditor.
3. Under caveat venditor, the seller is assumed to be more sophisticated than the purchaser and so must bear responsibility for protecting the unwary purchaser.The purchaser, emptor, is a child who must be protected against his or her own mistakes, while the seller, venditor, is the big, bad wolf lying in waiting for Little Red Riding Hood. So while the two rules struggle for preeminence, attorneys gleefully watch—and litigate."
4. Cave canem means, "Beware the dog". This was used in Roman times and may be seen even now on some gates in Europe. Would anyone be warned sufficiently in the United States if he or she saw this sign on a gate?5. Cave quid dicis, quando, et cui strongly suggests, "Beware what you say, when, and to whom."
This is certainly good advice for all of us; especially, when writing e-mails or on social websites.
Recent studies have shown that e-mail messages may stay recorded somewhere for years and be available for others to read long after we thought they no longer existed.
A case in point is Bill Gates, whose videotaped deposition for the federal trial in the United States revealed that he couldn't remember sending an e-mail about Microsoft's plans to use Apple Computer to "undermine Sun".
Reading about, "The Tale of the Gates Tapes" in the November 16, 1998, issue of Time, the writer Adam Cohen, wrote, "At a key point in his war against archrival Sun Microsystems, Gates fired off an e-mail about Microsoft's plans to use Apple Computer to 'undermine Sun', but now he can't remember sending the message and has no idea what he could have meant by it."
"Trouble was, it was a difficult line to swallow. Gates as a fuzzy-headed amnesiac? This is the man revered even by the geniuses who roam Microsoft's Redmond, Washington, campus for his awesome 'bandwidth' (geekspeak for intelligence)."