THEON OF ALEXANDRIA

'Theon' (Greek: Θέων, ca. 335 - ca. 405 AD) was a Greek
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scholar in Alexandria, Egypt, and the last director of the Library of Alexandria before it was burnt and destroyed by Christian riots, in the ''Museion'' until it was closed by the patriarch Theophilus on order of the Christian Roman emperor Theodosius I in 391 AD. Theon was the father of the mathematician and pagan martyr Hypatia who was murdered by Christians.
Theon's most durable achievement may be his edition of Euclid's ''Elements'', published around 364 and authoritative into the 19th century. The bulk of Theon's work, however, consisted of commentaries on important works by his Hellenistic predecessors. These included a "conferences" (''Synousiai'') on Euclid, and commentaries (''Exegeseis'') on the ''Handy Tables'' and ''Almagest'' of Ptolemy, and on the technical poet Aratus.
In one of the commentaries on the ''Handy Tables'', he is the first author to describe the theory of trepidation of the equinoxes, as an alternative to precession. Theon described but did not endorse this theory.

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Notes

1.
Tihon, Anne, "Theon of Alexandria and Ptolemy's Handy Tables", In Ancient Astronomy and Celestial Divination. Dibner Institute studies in the history of science and technology. Edited by N.M. Swerdlow. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1999., p.357.

2.
G. J. Toomer, "Theon of Alexandria," in Dictionary of Scientific Biography 13:321-325.

3. T L Heath, A History of Greek Mathematics (2 Vols.) (Oxford, 1921).
4. O Neugebauer, A history of ancient mathematical astronomy (New York, 1975).
5. A Rome, Commentaires de Pappus et de Théon d'Alexandrie sur l'Almageste Tome III. Théon d'Alexandrie (Rome, 1943).
6. A Tihon (ed.), Le 'Grand commentaire' de Théon d'Alexandrie aux 'Tables faciles' de Ptolémée Livre I (Vatican City, 1985).
7. A Tihon (ed.), Le 'Grand commentaire' de Théon d'Alexandrie aux 'Tables faciles' de Ptolémée Livre II, III (Vatican City, 1991).

References

★ G. J. Toomer, "Theon of Alexandria," in ''Dictionary of Scientific Biography'' 13:321-325.

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