Sosigenes of Alexandria

Sosigenes of Alexandria (Greek: Σωσιγένης ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς) was a Greek astronomer from Ptolemaic Egypt who, according to Roman historian Pliny the Elder, was consulted by Julius Caesar for the design of the Julian calendar.[1][2]

Little is known about him apart from Pliny's Natural History. Sosigenes appears in Book 18, 210-212:

"... There were three main schools, the Chaldaean, the Egyptian, and the Greek; and to these a fourth was added in our country by Caesar during his dictatorship, who with the assistance of the learned astronomer Sosigenes (Sosigene perito scientiae eius adhibito) brought the separate years back into conformity with the course of the sun."

In Book 2, chapter 6, Sosigenes is credited with work on the orbit of Mercury:

"The star next to Venus is Mercury, by some called Apollo; it has a similar orbit, but is by no means similar in magnitude or power. It travels in a lower circle, with a revolution nine days quicker, shining sometimes before sunrise and sometimes after sunset, but according to Cidenas and Sosigenes never more than 22 degrees away from the sun."[3]

Some sources state that the Julian calendar was designed by Aristarchus of Samos, although it is not clear where this conclusion originates. Ptolemy III Euergetes, Aristarchus' contemporary, did indeed decree a reform of the Egyptian calendar in 238 BC, but it was never implemented. The reform, however, would have added an extra day (leap day) to the 365-day Egyptian calendar every four years, a feature shared by the Julian calendar.

Sosigenes was portrayed by Hume Cronyn in the 1963 movie Cleopatra. This portrayal is heavily fictionalized: he serves as Cleopatra's tutor/adviser and later her envoy to Rome. He is ultimately murdered in the Forum by Octavian, commencing his war against Egypt. None of these events are present in historical record, and were invented for the film.

See also

References
  1. Sosigenes of Alexandria
  2. Dialetis, Dimitris (2007). "Sosigenes of Alexandria". In Hockey, Thomas; et al. (eds.). Biographical dictionary of astronomers. vol. II, M-Z. Springer. p. 1074.
  3. Book II, chapter 6, 36-41 in Pliny the Elder, Natural History I. Loeb Classical Library 330. Translated by H. Rackman, 1938, p.193. In a very old translation from C. Plinius Secundus, The Historie of the World, translated by Philemon Holland (1601), it is book 2 chapter 8, and reads: "Next upon it, but nothing of that bignesse and powerful efficacie, is the starre Mercurie, of some cleped Apollo: in an inferiour circle hee goeth, after the like manner, a swifter course by nine daies: shining sometimes before the sunne rising, otherwhiles after his setting, never farther distant from him than 23 degrees, as both the same Timæus and Sosigenes doe shew."
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