Menelaus' Spherics : Early translation and al-Mahani/al-Harawi's version, Critical edition, with historical and mathematical commentaries
Résumé
Despite its importance in the history of Ancient science, Menelaus’S pherics is
still by and large unknown. This treatise, which lies at the foundation of
spherical geometry, is lost in Greek but has been preserved in its Arabic
versions. The reader will find here, for the first time edited and translated into
English, the essentials of this tradition, namely: a fragment of an early Arabic
translation and the first Arabic redaction of the Spherics composed by al-Mahani/al-Harawi together with a historical and mathematical study of
Menelaus’ treatise. With this book, a new and important part of the Greek and
Arabic legacy to the history of mathematics comes to light. This book will be an
indispensable acquisition for any reader interested in the history of Ancient
geometry and science and, more generally, in Greek and Arabic science and
culture.
Scientia