1984/12/01 by Joseph Roisman · 2 citations
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #Classical Antiquity Studies #Historical and Literary Studies #Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies #Ptolemy's table of chords #Reputation #Classics #History #Philosophy #Law #Political science
paper · doi:10.1017/s0009838800031001
openalex publication_date 1984/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/26
Scholarly opinion about Ptolemy Soter's history of Alexander has been far from unanimous. Not long ago Ptolemy was held to stand in the first rank of ancient historians. His history was described as brilliant, rational, straightforward, and exhaustive, while he himself was proclaimed a ‘second Thucydides’. In recent years, however, Ptolemy's reputation has seriously declined. His shortcomings, acknowledged also by his admirers, have been stressed and extensively analysed. Fritz Schachermeyr clearly reflected current opinion when he equated a ‘version from the Hauptquartier's circles’ with a lie, a fraud, and an intentional omission. The purpose of this paper is to examine the recent reassessment of the nature and the aims of Ptolemy's work.