Work
Naboth was the author of a general textbook on astrology Enarratio elementorum astrologiae. Renowned for calculating the mean annual motion of the Sun, his writings are chiefly devoted to commenting upon Ptolemy and the Arabian astrologers. Naboth teaches the calculation of the movement of the planets according to the Prutenic Tables of Erasmus Reinhold. He advocated a measure of time, by which 0° 59' 8⅓" (the mean daily motion of the Sun in longitude) is equated to 1 year of life in calculating primary directions. This was a refinement of Ptolemy’s value of exactly 1 degree per year. This book was banned by the Roman Catholic Church.
| Naboth's representation of the conventional view of the solar system (left), Martianus Capella's geo-heliocentric astronomical model (center) and Copernicus' heliocentric model. | ||
In 1573 Naboth published an astronomy textbook for gymnasium students Primarum de coelo et terra, which was dedicated to Stephen Báthory. There can be no doubt that Naboth was working from De revolutionibus orbium coelestium when he wrote this textbook, since in this book he provides schematics of the conventional model of the solar system, Martianus Capella's geo-heliocentric model, as well as Copernicus' heliocentric model. Tycho Brahe owned an early copy of this book, and since this book contains the first schematic representation of Capella's geo-heliocentric model it is likely that this book provided the inspiration for Tycho's geo-heliocentric model. Wittich may also have been influenced by Naboth's book in adopting the Capellan system to explain the motion of the inferior planets, and Kepler may have used this book as well. In this book Naboth introduced the expression world system (systema mundi, mundanum systema, systema universitatis, and also systema coeleste, systema caelorum and systema aethereum), a concept that was later adopted by Tycho, Kepler, and by Galilei as well.
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