In memoriam Noel M. Swerdlow

We have recently received the sad news that Noel Swerdlow (1941–2021) passed away this Saturday 24 July. Noel was a leading historian of science who specialized in premodern astronomy from the Babylonian astronomical ephemerides of the Hellenistic period across the entire range of Western astronomy to the Renaissance, focusing on the works of Regiomontanus, Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Kepler, and Galileo. Published Online (2021-08-31)Copyright © 2021 by the Institute for Research in Classical Philosophy and Science Article PDF Link: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/aestimatio/article/view/37705/28704 Corresponding Author: Alan C. Bowen, Institute for Research in Classical Philosophy and ScienceE-Mail: [email protected]

Brill’s Companion to the Reception of Galen edited by Petros Bouras-Vallianatos and Barbara Zipser

With 31 chapters and over nearly 700 densely written pages, this bulky volume manages the difficult task of giving a comprehensive account of the afterlife of the Greek physician Galen (129–216 ad). Over the past few decades, his work has aroused much interest to the point that such a book has become increasingly desirable, if not necessary. Reviewed by: Julien Devinant Published Online (2021-08-31)Copyright © 2021 by Julien DevinantThis open access publication is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (CC BY-NC-ND) Article PDF Link: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/aestimatio/article/view/37735/28736 Corresponding Author: Julien Devinant,Centre Léon Robin, Sorbonne UniversitéE-Mail: [email protected]

Mosaics of Knowledge: Representing Information in the Roman World by Andrew M. Riggsby

With Mosaics of Knowledge, Andrew Riggsby has produced a very ambitious and thoughtprovoking book. Like Daryn Lehoux’s What Did the Romans Know? [2012], Riggsby’s new book reminds us that the Romans did not see science or technology as we do. However, where Lehoux focuses on a philosophical exploration of how the Romans made sense of the natural world, and why they saw such a different world from the one that we do, Riggsby explores how the Romans understood and used several types of information technology. Here I summarize and comment on what I consider to be the key contributions of each chapter. At the end of the review, I will give some general comments on the book as a whole. Reviewed by: Jason C. Morris, Published Online (2021-08-31)Copyright © 2021 by Jason C. Morris This open access publication is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (CC BY-NC-ND) Article PDF Link: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/aestimatio/article/view/37732/28733 Corresponding Author: Jason C. Morris,Independent ScholarE-Mail: [email protected]

The Interactions of Ancient Astral Science by David Brown with contributions by Jonathan BenDov, Harry Falk, Geoffrey Lloyd, Raymond Mercier, Antonio Panaino, Joachim Quack, Alexandra von Lieven, and Michio Yano

This book is an admirable attempt by its author, assisted by eight reputed colleagues, to present an overview of our present knowledge of astrology and astronomy as practiced in ancient Mesopotamia, Greece, Egypt, Rome, India, China, and Japan, and of the possible interactions leading to borrowing and/or transmission of astral science between these cultures from ancient times onwards up to about ad 600. Reviewed by: Teije de Jong, Published Online (2021-08-31)Copyright © 2021 by Teije de JongThis open access publication is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (CC BY-NC-ND) Article PDF Link: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/aestimatio/article/view/37719/28723 Corresponding Author: Teije de Jong, University of AmsterdamE-Mail: [email protected]

Anonymus Cantabrigiensis: Commentarium in Sophisticos Elenchos Aristotelis edited by Sten Ebbesen

The publication of the critical edition of this anonymous commentary on Aristotle’s Sophistical Refutations is something to be celebrated for numerous reasons. Needless to say, it is of great value for scholars interested in the reception of this particular item of the corpus Aristotelicum, especially since the editor is responsible for much of our current knowledge within the field. Reviewed by: Gustavo Fernandez Walker, Published Online (2021-08-31)Copyright © 2021 by Gustavo Fernandez WalkerThis open access publication is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (CC BY-NC-ND) Article PDF Link: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/aestimatio/article/view/37734/28735 Corresponding Author: Gustavo Fernandez Walker,University of GothenburgE-Mail: [email protected]

The Circulation of Treatises on Divination and Magic from the 12th to the 17th Century

A discussion of Geomancy and Other Forms of Divination edited by Alessandro Palazzo and Irene Zavattero and of La magia naturale tra Medioevo e prima età moderna edited by Lorenzo Bianchi and Antonella Sannino. Published Online (2021-08-31)Copyright © 2021 by Pietro B. Rossi Article PDF Link: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/aestimatio/article/view/37704/28701 Corresponding Author: Pietro B. Rossi, University of TurinE-Mail: [email protected]

Logoi and Muthoi: Further Essays in Greek Philosophy and Literature edited by William Wians

This volume of essays is the second devoted to exploring philosophical themes in Greek literature that William Wians has edited. The first, Logos and Muthos: Philosophical Essays in Greek Literature, was published in 2010. Both attempt to correct and clarify the old schema of Nestle’s Vom Mythos zum Logos [1940], a work tinged with the ideology that prevailed in Germany at the time. To this end, the volumes propose to avoid simplistic schemas, such as that of the “Greek miracle” or of the transformation of the irrational into the rational. Muthoi and logoi are realities that have much richer and more complex relationships with each other than the mere substitution proposed by Nestle. Reviewed by: Alberto Bernabé, Published Online (2021-08-31)Copyright © 2021 by Alberto BernabéThis open access publication is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (CC BY-NC-ND) Article PDF Link: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/aestimatio/article/view/37724/28726 Corresponding Author: Alberto Bernabé,Universidad Complutense de MadridE-Mail: [email protected]

Aristotle and His Commentators: Studies in Memory of Paraskevi Kotzia edit­ed by Pantelis Golitsis and Katerina Ierodiakonou

This commemorative volume, dedicated to the late scholar of Greek antiquity and onetime scientific coordinator of the Center of Aristotelian Studies at the University of Thessaloniki, Paraskevi Kotzia, draws together 12 important essays on various aspects of Aristotle’s thought and the late ancient and Byzantine tradition of commentary, nine of which were presented at an international and interdisciplinary conference held in her memory in September 2014. Reviewed by: Nicholas Allan Aubin, Published Online (2021-08-31)Copyright © 2021 by Nicholas Allan AubinThis open access publication is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (CC BY-NC-ND) Article PDF Link: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/aestimatio/article/view/37712/28722 Corresponding Author: Nicholas Allan Aubin, Humboldt University, BerlinE-Mail: [email protected]

Le De anima alchimique du pseudo­-Avicenne by Sébastien Moureau

Adapted and expanded from Moureau’s doctoral thesis defended in 2010 at the Université Catholique de Louvain, this monograph extends over two substantial volumes for a total of more than 1,400 pages thoroughly annotated in more than 3,500 footnotes. Numbers apart, Moureau’s praiseworthy effort aims to contribute to the study of the alchemical works of pseudoAvicenna by presenting the first critical edition of an extensive, very complex, and deeply influential treatise, the De anima, and its first annotated French translation. Moureau’s book rigorously achieves this and offers much more. Reviewed by: Gabriele Ferrario, Published Online (2021-08-31)Copyright © 2021 by Gabriele FerrarioThis open access publication is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (CC BY-NC-ND) Article PDF Link: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/aestimatio/article/view/37733/28734 Corresponding Author: Gabriele Ferrario,University of BolognaE-Mail: [email protected]

Das Horn des Steinbocks. Die Treppen und der Dachkiosk in Dendara als Quellen zum Neujahrsfest by Alexa Rickert

The publication reviewed here is a slightly revised version of the doctoral thesis submitted by the Alexa Rickert in 2017 to the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Tubingen. It deals with the evidence for the Egyptian Festival of the New Year found in the stairwells and roof kiosk of the Temple of Hathor in Dendara. Reviewed by: Stefan Bojowald, Published Online (2021-08-31)Copyright © 2021 by Stefan BojowaldThis open access publication is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (CC BY-NC-ND) Article PDF Link: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/aestimatio/article/view/37711/28721 Corresponding Author: Stefan Bojowald, Rheinische FriedrichWilhelms University BonnE-Mail: [email protected]