in surviving pieces of Greek music, although notational symbols also appear in the treatises
of A Q and B G.
Gaudentius’ treatments parallel other treatises for the most part, but a few unique or
unusual features include: the definition of paraphonic notes (§8), distinct from those of
Bakkheios and T S; the possibility of combining individual species of the
fourth and the fifth into 12 different species of the octave (§19), though only the traditional
seven species of the octave are accepted as “melodic and consonant”; acceptance of the
eleventh as a consonance (§§ 9 – 10), unusual in a treatise showing some adherence to the
Pythagorean tradition; and explanations (§20) of the purpose of musical notation and
the necessity of multiple signs for each note-name.
MSG 327 – 356; SRMH 1.66–85; Mathiesen (1999) 498–509; NGD2 9.576; MGG2 7 (2002) 619–621.
Thomas J. Mathiesen
Gemellus (50 BCE – 80 CE)
A in G CMLoc 9.5 (13.299 K.) records Gemellus’ mineral-based enema
in diluted wine, with approval (Fabricius 1972: 174–179). The word is first attested in
C, BC 3.4.1, and the name first in Iosephus, Ant. Iud. 16.241–243 = PIR2 G-138;
cf. also LGPN 1.106 and 4.78.
Fabricius (1726) 167.
PTK
Geminus (1st c. BCE)
Greek writer with astronomical, mathematical, and philosophical interests, who probably
came from Rhodes. His only surviving work, Eisago ̄ge ̄ eis ta phainomena (Introductio astrono-
miae) is an introduction to the visible heavens as observed with the naked eye. Its 18
chapters deal with the celestial sphere (its articulation and observed motion), mathemat-
ical geography, calendrical cycles, solar and lunar motions, and the names of the five
planets. This treatise was the first explicit attempt to introduce and, thus, to define
astronomy; and it was composed when recently received Babylonian ideas and tech-
niques, which Geminus tries to explain and adapt to traditional Greek concerns,
demanded assimilation.
Four chapters of the Introductio (reordered as 4, 5, 15, and 13) were excerpted in the late
14th c., given the title Sphaera, and mistakenly attributed to P. This treatise proved
extremely popular and was not recognized as Geminus’ until the late 16th c. Geminus
probably also wrote on mathematics, to judge from citations by P and E, as
well as from references by Proklos in his commentary on Book 1 of E’s Elements (to
which there are also parallels in excerpts on optics preserved in several MSS of D’
treatise).
None of this material nor the content of the Introductio readily fixes Geminus’ philo-
sophical allegiance. Even his use of Stoic concepts and language in the Introductio may just
indicate a reliance on commonly-used terminology and vocabulary. However, Geminus did
prepare an epitome of the Stoic P’ Meteo ̄rologika, from which an important
passage is summarized in S’ commentary on A’s Physics. Its central
idea, that astronomical theorizing is subordinated to, and integrated with, philosophical
speculation about the nature and constitution of the heavens and its underlying causal
GEMELLUS