Philip of Opus - Philip The Astronomer

Philip The Astronomer

Because he is identified in the Suda as an astronomer, it is generally assumed that Philip of Opus is the same person as Philip of Medma, (also called Philip of Mende) who was an astronomer and mathematician and a disciple of Plato. Philip of Medma is mentioned by several ancient writers, such as Vitruvius, Pliny the Elder, Plutarch, (who states that he demonstrated the figure of the Moon), Proclus, and Alexander of Aphrodisias. His astronomical observations were made in the Peloponnese and in Locris (where Opus was a principal city), and were used by the astronomers Hipparchus, Geminus of Rhodes, and Ptolemy. He is said by Stephanus of Byzantium to have written a treatise on the winds.