description of the topic as treated by previous commentators, usually an outline of the basic
principles, and an orientation with scriptural interpretation.
OCD3 298 – 299, S.J.B. Barnish; J.W. Halporn and M. Vessey, Cassiodorus: Institutions of Divine and Secular
Learning (2004); M. Shane Bjornlie, The Variae of Cassiodorus Senator (Diss. Princeton, 2006).
M. Shane Bjornlie
S ⇒ L. A S
S ⇒ N
P. Septimius (ca 100 – 60 BCE?)
One of the few Romans before V’ time to have written on architecture (7.pr.14).
He wrote two books and may have been Vitruuius’ source for the teachings of Hermodo ̄ros
of Salamis, the first Greek architect to build a marble temple in Rome (ca 146 BCE for
Q. Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus), who was in turn the likely source for the system of
columnar proportions of the Greek H A.
P. Gros, “Hermodorus et Vitruve,” MEFRA 85 (1973) 137–161.
Thomas Noble Howe
S ⇒ V S
Serapio ̄n (Astron.) (150 – 360 CE)
Astronomer whose method for using P’s tables to calculate the equation of time (the
difference between mean and observed noon) T A describes in his
“Great Commentary” on Ptolemy’s Handy Tables. The passage’s textual difficulties are due in
part to Theo ̄n’s habit of updating his own works, but Theo ̄n is clearly referring to our Serap-
io ̄n’s manual of instructions for the use of the Handy Tables, thus an early example of the same
genre of commentary as Theo ̄n’s “Little Commentary.” Modern scholars have frequently
conflated him with other homonyms, including the astrologer S A
and the geographer S A, both of whom, however, preceded Ptolemy.
J. Mogenet and A. Tihon, Le “grand commentaire” de Théon d’Alexandrie aux Tables faciles de Ptolémée. Livre I
(1985) 288–300.
Alexander Jones
Serapio ̄n of Alexandria (Astrol.) (100 BCE – 100 CE?)
Astrologer whose lost work or works on katarkhic astrology are partially summarized in
several chapters of the astrological compilation falsely ascribed to “Palkhos” (but actually
the work of Eleutherios Eleios, a 14th c. Byzantine astrologer). Other citations of Serapio ̄n
are scattered through the chaos of Byzantine astrological codices, but their authenticity is
doubtful. The A 379 asserts that P postdated Serapio ̄n. It seems
unlikely, therefore, that our astrologer was the Serapio ̄n “the Egyptian” executed in 217 CE
for forecasting Caracalla’s imminent death (Dio Cassius 78.4).
Pingree (1978) 2.440–441.
Alexander Jones
P. SEPTIMIUS