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An Optics treatise under Ptolemy’s name survives as a lacunose transmission whose Greek is lost

Modern APS-linked editions of the Optics print a Latin-from-Arabic treatise on vision under Ptolemy’s name while stating that the Greek is lost and that parts, especially the later books, are transmissionally fragile. In the causal graph this event weakens the driver Personal-Data Protection.

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Modern APS-linked editions of the Optics print a Latin-from-Arabic treatise on vision under Ptolemy’s name while stating that the Greek is lost and that parts, especially the later books, are transmissionally fragile.

Context

This is not a finding that the Almagest is forged. It is a limit on treating every later optical proposition as a dated Alexandrian autograph.

Ptolemy’s documented role is bounded by other offices and collaborators named in the sources below.

Conventional floruit is the mid-2nd century CE in Roman Alexandria.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

  • Ptolemy

    Person

    Direct responsibility

    responsibility level 0.28 · verified

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

    1. FactAn Optics treatise under Ptolemy’s name survives as a lacunose transmission whose Greek is lost
    2. weakensDriverPersonal-Data Protection

    impact weight 0.35 · Effect from 1 November 150 · verified

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek and Roman ScienceCambridge University Press · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.American Philosophical Society — A. Mark Smith editions of the OpticsAmerican Philosophical Society · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

Driver personal-data-protection is attached because the Significance sentence names a mechanism from An Optics treatise under Ptolemy’s name survives as a lacunose transmission whose Greek is lost at 0150-11-01, not because a standing driver list needed coverage. Official page: https://www.aps.org/ (opens in a new tab). Independent page: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316136096 (opens in a new tab).

Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

  1. ActorPtolemy
  2. contributed toFactAn Optics treatise under Ptolemy’s name survives as a lacunose transmission whose Greek is lost
  3. weakensDriverPersonal-Data Protection

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). An Optics treatise under Ptolemy’s name survives as a lacunose transmission whose Greek is lost. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/pto-optics-attribution-gap

https://factrail.ai/facts/pto-optics-attribution-gap

Accessed 16 October 2026.

By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

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