FROM THE HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT PERIPATETIC SCHOOL OF METEOROLOGY: WEATHER OMENS AND WINDS
E.V. Afonasin1,2
1Institute of Philosophy and Law, SB RAS, 630090, 8 Nikolaeva str., Novosibirsk, Russia
2Novosibirsk State University, 630090, 2 Pirogova str., Novosibirsk, Russia
Keywords: приметы погоды, роза ветров, анемоскоп, Аристотель, Теофраст, Башня ветров, weather signs, wind-rose, anemoscopes, Aristotle, Theophrastus, the Tower of the Winds
Abstract
The article opens a series of studies dedicated to ancient meteorology. I discuss the method and content of Pseudo-Theophrastus’ “On weather signs” and translate a short treatise “On the location and names of the winds”, traditionally included in the Corpus Aristotelicum. The treatise is translated into the Russian for the first time. We see that the unknown author tries to correlate the theoretical wind diagram with the empirical data, and the picture, which appears as a result, significantly differs from the theoretical scheme developed in Aristotle’s Meteorology. On the other hand, his approach is more practical since he tries to take account of the local condition. After all, even Aristotle admits that his simple scheme is not exact and allows adjustment to specific geographic places.
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