Abstract

The history of astronomy in Byzantium poses great problems of interpretation for Byzantinists and historians of science. This interdisciplinary contribution seeks to understand astronomy in Byzantium from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries from the perspective of the Byzantines and to convey it to today's readers. This goal is reached through the study of an astronomical text of that time, the Paradosis or Lessons on the Persian Tables of Astronomy. The present work provides a critical edition of the Paradosis along with a translation and commentary, and discusses the importance of this text in the history of astronomy and the transmission of Islamic astronomy through Byzantium to the West.