Ptotle’s Astronomical Fabrications
In addition to being an incompetent astronomer, Ptotle fabricated the majority of his data and fabricated data from other earlier astronomers. We’re grateful to R. R. Newton and others for pointing out Ptotle’s lies (all dates are BCE unless otherwise noted):
- Of 3 lunar eclipses allegedly occurring in Assyria on March 19, 720, March 8, 719 and September 1, 719 one is certainly fabricated and the other 2 may be fabricated (we have the Assyrian texts confirming one is fabricated)
- Three lunar eclipses taking place in Alexandria on September 22, 200, March 19, 199 and September 12, 199
- The reported longitudes of Sun and Moon by Hipparchus on May 2, 129 and July 7, 126 (those are quoted in other texts proving Ptotle lied)
- A lunar eclipse occurring in Assyria on April 22, 620 (an Assyrian text proves Ptotle lied)
- A lunar eclipse occurring in Chaldea (under Persian control) on July 16, 522
- A lunar eclipse occurring in Alexandria on May 1, 173
- A lunar eclipse visible from Rhodes on January 27, 140
- Seven lunar conjunctions or occultations reportedly observed by Timocharis, Menelaos or Agrippa between 290 BCE and about 95 CE
- The longitude of Mercury at its maximum elongation reportedly made by Dionysios May 28, 256 BCE and August 23, 261 BCE
- The longitude of Mercury at maximum elongation allegedly observed from Alexandria October 30, 236 BCE and November 19, 244 BCE
- Meton’s alleged observation of the Summer solstice on June 27, 431
Those are but a few fabrications Ptolemy conjured up. And here are some of the “observations” Ptolemy claims to have made but didn’t.
| Correct Time | |||
| September 24, 132 | 9.9 | September 25, 132 | 14 |
| September 25, 139 | 2.6 | September 26, 139 | 7 |
| March 21, 140 | 9.4 | March 22, 140 | 13 |
| June 23, 140 | 14 | June 25, 140 | 2 |
Sorry, but a 5-year-old girl in the city of Kish in Sumer circa 2470 BCE could have made more accurate observations. Newton points out that if Ptotle made his measurements with the same accuracy as Hipparchus while ignoring the fact that Ptotle might have had access to better “technology” then Ptotle should have found the year with an error of 2 minutes of arc or less. Yet, Ptotle’s error in the length of the year is amazingly identical with that of Hipparchus.
How could that happen?
Newton explains that if the error in each of Ptotle’s “observations” is ten standard deviations and each error is in the same direction. The probability that a set of four observations would have this property because of the chance occurrence of measurement error is about 1092
In two words: im-possible.
Newton proves that instead of making “measurements”, as Ptotle claims to have done, Ptotle fabricated them by assuming the length of year established by Hipparchus was correct. That’s the only possible way Ptotle could have come up with those values for the equinoxes and solstices.
Why did Ptotle fabricate all of his observations?
According to Alexander Jones, Ptotle treats Hipparchus as his only legitimate predecessor in theoretical astronomy and that’s odd considering Ptotle makes only brief and dismissively vague allusions to the astronomers of the intervening three centuries and his own time.
It’s clear Ptotle was a pathetic nobody. His theories on astronomy were laughable and the only way to get people to accept his very bad astronomical theories was to be dismissive of everyone who had better theories and fabricate data to “prove” his theories were true.