AUTOLYCUS OF PITANE

autolycus of pitane, greek mathematician and astronomer, probably flourished in the second half of the 4th century b.c., since he is said to have instructed arcesilaus. his extant works consist of two treatises; the one, [greek: peri kinoumenes sphairas], contains some simple propositions on the motion of the sphere, the other, [greek: peri epitolon kai duseon], in two books, discusses the rising and setting of the fixed stars. the former treatise is historically interesting for the light it throws on the development which the geometry of the sphere had already reached even before autolycus and euclid (see theodosius of tripolis). there are several latin versions of autolycus, a french translation by forcadel (1572), and an admirable edition of the greek text with latin translation by f. hultsch (leipzig, 1885).