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Papers by Johannes Wietzke
Classical Antiquity, 2022
Archimedes’ Sand-Reckoner presents a system for naming extraordinarily large numbers, larger than... more Archimedes’ Sand-Reckoner presents a system for naming extraordinarily large numbers, larger than the number of grains of sand that would fill the cosmos. Curiously, Archimedes addresses the treatise not to another specialist but to King Gelon II of Syracuse. While the treatise has thus been seen as evidence for the dynamics of patronage, difficulties in both Archimedes’ treatment of Gelon and his discussion of astronomical models make it fit incongruously within contemporary court and scientific contexts. This article offers a new reading of the Sand-Reckoner based on a reconsideration of the relationship between author and addressee: deferring assumptions about the historicity of that relationship, it analyzes Gelon’s role in the treatise with respect to both the stylistic features of Archimedes’ prose and a broader tradition of narratives about a variety of cultural actors who engage with kings, speaking not so much truth as wit to power. Such a reading resolves the social and scientific difficulties of the treatise, and develops the literary-experimental qualities of Hellenistic science. In turn, the article proposes a revised approach, sensitive to broader patterns of authorship, to understanding ancient scientific authors’ relationship to royal authority. It concludes, finally, that the royal patronage seemingly exemplified by the Sand-Reckoner had greater significance as a cultural trope than as a social institution.
In this paper I investigate the presence of “minor authority” in Strabo’s Geography, defining the... more In this paper I investigate the presence of “minor authority” in Strabo’s Geography, defining the category in quantitative terms: for my purposes, “minor authorities” are those cited, on average, less than once per book. Thus defined, they include not only obscure individuals such as the local historian Daës of Colonae, but also the well-known philosopher Plato. Though seemingly expendable as individual authorities, these figures accumulate in scores, such that their collective presence rivals that of major authorities like Homer and Eratosthenes. I argue that, although Strabo’s “expendables” frequently function to support and define the Geography within a deep textual tradition, close readings reveal unresolved conflicts of authority and suggest the limited reach of functional explanations for their presence. I propose, then, an aesthetic explanation for minor authority, arguing that minor authorities exemplify the concept of poikilia, prominent in discussions of literary criticism contemporary with Strabo. I conclude that a literary aesthetic affects how Strabo deploys textual authority and thus helps shape the individual arguments that comprise his massive and complex exposition.
This chapter examines in detail the rhetoric that the second-century CE polymath Claudius Ptolemy... more This chapter examines in detail the rhetoric that the second-century CE polymath Claudius Ptolemy deploys in his astronomical masterpiece, the Syntaxis (aka the Almagest). Curiously, Ptolemy uses language that validates the character of contemporary civic benefactors to describe himself and Hipparchus, a predecessor whose earlier observational work is essential for Ptolemy’s achievement. I argue that with this language, Ptolemy creates a unique model of ‘diachronic collaboration’ with Hipparchus, but one that ultimately renders his predecessor subordinate to his own privileged position. I conclude by showing that Ptolemy’s model diverges from the equal collaborations of civic benefactors, which were sometimes necessitated by social and economic forces that did not constrain scientific authorship. The chapter shows how identical rhetorical strategies unite the different cultural practices of civic benefaction and scientific authorship, while supporting distinct regimes of authority within each.
This paper examines in detail the second-century CE polymath Claudius Ptolemy’s expression of the... more This paper examines in detail the second-century CE polymath Claudius Ptolemy’s expression of the "desire for knowledge," situating it against a wider backdrop of similar expressions in the Greek textual tradition. I argue that in his expression, Ptolemy creatively alludes to Plato’s Phaedrus, a practice that, surprisingly, here ties his work more closely to contemporary oratory and the "novel" than to generic precursors in the exact sciences. The paper thus demonstrates how an author in the highly formalized genre of mathematics employs specific textual strategies held in common with his contemporary literary culture.
Reviews by Johannes Wietzke
trade in Georgian England will be of great interest to historians of print, commerce and medicine... more trade in Georgian England will be of great interest to historians of print, commerce and medicine, and to historians of the period more broadly. Indeed, Mackintosh's book does more than revise the historical record on the legitimacy of the patent medicine industry, but his blurring of the boundaries between regular and irregular medical practice and between the medicine and print trades demonstrates that patent medicines were a central part of Georgian life.
This volume, resulting from a 2011 Berlin conference, presents twelve papers on ancient technical... more This volume, resulting from a 2011 Berlin conference, presents twelve papers on ancient technical-scientific writing that converge around a single question: 'to what extent does the principle of practical applicability determine the specific nature of [a] text?' (p. 2). The authors thus open up the issue of the applicability of expertise to textual analysis, drawing diverse answers to that question from an array of texts on subjects ranging from architecture to zoology. The volume is thus defined by the diversity of its contributionstheir subject, focus, theme and conclusionsand in them readers with diverse interests in technical-scientific writing will find plenty that will engage them. The volume opens with two introductions by the editors. In the first, v.d.E. briefly surveys the volume and some of its core topics: distinctions between theory and practice; definitions of practical art; oral versus written instruction; the Sitz im Leben of text. In the second, F. offers a critical review of recent work on ancient technical-scientific writing, which will orient new readers to key issues and provoke debate among those already familiar with them. F. wants to advance scholarship beyond questions isolating rhetoric and form, which implicitly assume problematic distinctions between the 'literary' and 'nonliterary', proposing instead a Bakhtin-inspired hermeneutic that pursues a 'poetics of knowledge' pervading texts by virtue of their very textuality. F. does not fully develop the agenda here, but focusing on this volume's concerns, he proposes that aspects of text that point to applicability should be understood as a mere 'gesture towards the extratextual reality' (p. 19). The apparent bridge between text and technical practice is thus a device that redirects the text back onto itself or facilitates unexpected, non-technical applications; F. develops these claims through two examples, analysing Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopédie and Onasander's Stratêgikos. I will return to F.'s discussion at the end of this review. Most of the contributions are aligned with F.'s goals, at least broadly. The papers are arranged by 'subject matter' (p. 7), but since almost every one of them covers a different subject, this arrangement does not readily facilitate synthesis. Below I regroup them according to four themes (not mutually exclusive) to suggest how papers on distinct subjects might profitably be read in conversation with one another. I begin with one, however, that is an effective primer for the whole volume: surveying writings on mechanics, M. Asper draws out four 'acts' that such texts purportedly enable readers to do: (1) actually build machines; (2) have comprehensive, systematic knowledge of construction; (3) decide which machines to build; and (4) explain scientifically how and why machines work. While Asper does not offer final conclusions, he raises fundamental questions about what constitutes applicability and thus provides a helpful, methodological complement to the papers that follow. Every paper discusses the formal features of texts, but several, echoing part 1 of Asper's discussion, are united in targeting those features that seemingly promote the use of texts and their contents. E. Romano analyses Vitruvius' De architectura and finds evidence for practical instruction in the preponderance of building terminology and specific advice, though this is complicated by Vitruvius' shifting addressee. She concludes that Vitruvius blends theory and practice, promoting architecture as an 'art of the possible' (p. 66), in THE CLASSICAL REVIEW
Classical Antiquity, 2022
Archimedes’ Sand-Reckoner presents a system for naming extraordinarily large numbers, larger than... more Archimedes’ Sand-Reckoner presents a system for naming extraordinarily large numbers, larger than the number of grains of sand that would fill the cosmos. Curiously, Archimedes addresses the treatise not to another specialist but to King Gelon II of Syracuse. While the treatise has thus been seen as evidence for the dynamics of patronage, difficulties in both Archimedes’ treatment of Gelon and his discussion of astronomical models make it fit incongruously within contemporary court and scientific contexts. This article offers a new reading of the Sand-Reckoner based on a reconsideration of the relationship between author and addressee: deferring assumptions about the historicity of that relationship, it analyzes Gelon’s role in the treatise with respect to both the stylistic features of Archimedes’ prose and a broader tradition of narratives about a variety of cultural actors who engage with kings, speaking not so much truth as wit to power. Such a reading resolves the social and scientific difficulties of the treatise, and develops the literary-experimental qualities of Hellenistic science. In turn, the article proposes a revised approach, sensitive to broader patterns of authorship, to understanding ancient scientific authors’ relationship to royal authority. It concludes, finally, that the royal patronage seemingly exemplified by the Sand-Reckoner had greater significance as a cultural trope than as a social institution.
In this paper I investigate the presence of “minor authority” in Strabo’s Geography, defining the... more In this paper I investigate the presence of “minor authority” in Strabo’s Geography, defining the category in quantitative terms: for my purposes, “minor authorities” are those cited, on average, less than once per book. Thus defined, they include not only obscure individuals such as the local historian Daës of Colonae, but also the well-known philosopher Plato. Though seemingly expendable as individual authorities, these figures accumulate in scores, such that their collective presence rivals that of major authorities like Homer and Eratosthenes. I argue that, although Strabo’s “expendables” frequently function to support and define the Geography within a deep textual tradition, close readings reveal unresolved conflicts of authority and suggest the limited reach of functional explanations for their presence. I propose, then, an aesthetic explanation for minor authority, arguing that minor authorities exemplify the concept of poikilia, prominent in discussions of literary criticism contemporary with Strabo. I conclude that a literary aesthetic affects how Strabo deploys textual authority and thus helps shape the individual arguments that comprise his massive and complex exposition.
This chapter examines in detail the rhetoric that the second-century CE polymath Claudius Ptolemy... more This chapter examines in detail the rhetoric that the second-century CE polymath Claudius Ptolemy deploys in his astronomical masterpiece, the Syntaxis (aka the Almagest). Curiously, Ptolemy uses language that validates the character of contemporary civic benefactors to describe himself and Hipparchus, a predecessor whose earlier observational work is essential for Ptolemy’s achievement. I argue that with this language, Ptolemy creates a unique model of ‘diachronic collaboration’ with Hipparchus, but one that ultimately renders his predecessor subordinate to his own privileged position. I conclude by showing that Ptolemy’s model diverges from the equal collaborations of civic benefactors, which were sometimes necessitated by social and economic forces that did not constrain scientific authorship. The chapter shows how identical rhetorical strategies unite the different cultural practices of civic benefaction and scientific authorship, while supporting distinct regimes of authority within each.
This paper examines in detail the second-century CE polymath Claudius Ptolemy’s expression of the... more This paper examines in detail the second-century CE polymath Claudius Ptolemy’s expression of the "desire for knowledge," situating it against a wider backdrop of similar expressions in the Greek textual tradition. I argue that in his expression, Ptolemy creatively alludes to Plato’s Phaedrus, a practice that, surprisingly, here ties his work more closely to contemporary oratory and the "novel" than to generic precursors in the exact sciences. The paper thus demonstrates how an author in the highly formalized genre of mathematics employs specific textual strategies held in common with his contemporary literary culture.
trade in Georgian England will be of great interest to historians of print, commerce and medicine... more trade in Georgian England will be of great interest to historians of print, commerce and medicine, and to historians of the period more broadly. Indeed, Mackintosh's book does more than revise the historical record on the legitimacy of the patent medicine industry, but his blurring of the boundaries between regular and irregular medical practice and between the medicine and print trades demonstrates that patent medicines were a central part of Georgian life.
This volume, resulting from a 2011 Berlin conference, presents twelve papers on ancient technical... more This volume, resulting from a 2011 Berlin conference, presents twelve papers on ancient technical-scientific writing that converge around a single question: 'to what extent does the principle of practical applicability determine the specific nature of [a] text?' (p. 2). The authors thus open up the issue of the applicability of expertise to textual analysis, drawing diverse answers to that question from an array of texts on subjects ranging from architecture to zoology. The volume is thus defined by the diversity of its contributionstheir subject, focus, theme and conclusionsand in them readers with diverse interests in technical-scientific writing will find plenty that will engage them. The volume opens with two introductions by the editors. In the first, v.d.E. briefly surveys the volume and some of its core topics: distinctions between theory and practice; definitions of practical art; oral versus written instruction; the Sitz im Leben of text. In the second, F. offers a critical review of recent work on ancient technical-scientific writing, which will orient new readers to key issues and provoke debate among those already familiar with them. F. wants to advance scholarship beyond questions isolating rhetoric and form, which implicitly assume problematic distinctions between the 'literary' and 'nonliterary', proposing instead a Bakhtin-inspired hermeneutic that pursues a 'poetics of knowledge' pervading texts by virtue of their very textuality. F. does not fully develop the agenda here, but focusing on this volume's concerns, he proposes that aspects of text that point to applicability should be understood as a mere 'gesture towards the extratextual reality' (p. 19). The apparent bridge between text and technical practice is thus a device that redirects the text back onto itself or facilitates unexpected, non-technical applications; F. develops these claims through two examples, analysing Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopédie and Onasander's Stratêgikos. I will return to F.'s discussion at the end of this review. Most of the contributions are aligned with F.'s goals, at least broadly. The papers are arranged by 'subject matter' (p. 7), but since almost every one of them covers a different subject, this arrangement does not readily facilitate synthesis. Below I regroup them according to four themes (not mutually exclusive) to suggest how papers on distinct subjects might profitably be read in conversation with one another. I begin with one, however, that is an effective primer for the whole volume: surveying writings on mechanics, M. Asper draws out four 'acts' that such texts purportedly enable readers to do: (1) actually build machines; (2) have comprehensive, systematic knowledge of construction; (3) decide which machines to build; and (4) explain scientifically how and why machines work. While Asper does not offer final conclusions, he raises fundamental questions about what constitutes applicability and thus provides a helpful, methodological complement to the papers that follow. Every paper discusses the formal features of texts, but several, echoing part 1 of Asper's discussion, are united in targeting those features that seemingly promote the use of texts and their contents. E. Romano analyses Vitruvius' De architectura and finds evidence for practical instruction in the preponderance of building terminology and specific advice, though this is complicated by Vitruvius' shifting addressee. She concludes that Vitruvius blends theory and practice, promoting architecture as an 'art of the possible' (p. 66), in THE CLASSICAL REVIEW