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The Almagest star catalogue is a public file later audited as possible Hipparchan reuse, not a proven theft

Late-20th-century papers indexed on NASA ADS, following Grasshoff and earlier Delambre/Tycho arguments, print a public debate that Ptolemy’s star catalogue may be a reduced Hipparchan file rather than a fully independent Alexandrian observation set. It is an allegation-and-audit cluster, not a proven theft conviction. In the causal graph this event strengthens Institutional Corruption, a driver that strengthens Political corruption index — a worsening welfare path.

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Late-20th-century papers indexed on NASA ADS, following Grasshoff and earlier Delambre/Tycho arguments, print a public debate that Ptolemy’s star catalogue may be a reduced Hipparchan file rather than a fully independent Alexandrian observation set. It is an allegation-and-audit cluster, not a proven theft conviction.

Context

Do store the published audit as an opacity path of medium confidence. Hipparchus has his own identity.

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 0.32 · verified

What changed

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

    1. FactThe Almagest star catalogue is a public file later audited as possible Hipparchan reuse, not a proven theft
    2. strengthensDriverInstitutional Corruption
    3. strengthensIndicators (3)Political corruption index
    Worsening path

    impact weight 0.4 · Effect from 1 March 150 · verified

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.MacTutor — Hipparchus, the predecessor named in Almagest debatesUniversity of St Andrews · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.NASA ADS — modern papers on the Almagest and star catalogueNASA Astrophysics Data System · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

Driver institutional-corruption is attached because the Significance sentence names a mechanism from The Almagest star catalogue is a public file later audited as possible Hipparchan reuse, not a proven theft at 0150-03-01, not because a standing driver list needed coverage. Official page: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/ (opens in a new tab). Independent page: https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Hipparchus/ (opens in a new tab).

Causal path

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

  1. ActorPtolemy
  2. contributed toFactThe Almagest star catalogue is a public file later audited as possible Hipparchan reuse, not a proven theft
  3. strengthensDriverInstitutional Corruption
  4. strengthensIndicatorPolitical corruption index

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). The Almagest star catalogue is a public file later audited as possible Hipparchan reuse, not a proven theft. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/pto-star-catalogue-hipparchus-debate

https://factrail.ai/facts/pto-star-catalogue-hipparchus-debate

Accessed 16 October 2026.

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

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