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124-555: The name has been translated as " Dragons Interweaving" or "Dragon Twist", traditionally in reference to a jiao seen in the river shortly after the founding of the city. It was also known as Longyuan ( Long Uyên ), briefly known as Longzhou ( 龙州 ; 龍州 ; Lóngzhou ; Lung-chou ) in the 7th century, and known as "Dragon's Gulf". It was also known by the name of its city wall as Luocheng or La Thanh ( Chinese : 羅城 ; pinyin : Luóchéng ; Wade–Giles : Lo-ch'eng ; lit. "Enveloping Wall"), although this name

248-427: A flaming pearl under their chin or in their claws. The pearl is associated with spiritual energy, wisdom, prosperity, power, immortality, thunder, or the moon. Chinese art often depicts a pair of dragons chasing or fighting over a flaming pearl. Chinese dragons are occasionally depicted with bat-like wings growing out of the front limbs, but most do not have wings, as their ability to fly (and control rain/water, etc.)

372-417: A perfect fourth ) and octaves . Ptolemy reviewed standard (and ancient, disused ) musical tuning practice of his day, which he then compared to his own subdivisions of the tetrachord and the octave , which he derived experimentally using a monochord / harmonic canon. The volume ends with a more speculative exposition of the relationships between harmony, the soul ( psyche ), and the planets ( harmony of

496-661: A zoomorphic composition in reddish-brown stone have been found at the Chahai site (Liaoning) in the Xinglongwa culture (6200–5400 BC). The presence of dragons within Chinese culture dates back several thousands of years with the discovery of a dragon statue dating back to the fifth millennium BC from the Yangshao culture in Henan in 1987, and jade badges of rank in coiled form have been excavated from

620-601: A Roman citizen, but was ethnically either a Greek or at least a Hellenized Egyptian. Astronomy was the subject to which Ptolemy devoted the most time and effort; about half of all the works that survived deal with astronomical matters, and even others such as the Geography and the Tetrabiblos have significant references to astronomy. Ptolemy's Mathēmatikē Syntaxis ( Greek : Μαθηματικὴ Σύνταξις , lit.   ' Mathematical Systematic Treatise ' ), better known as

744-618: A certain Syrus, a figure of whom almost nothing is known but who likely shared some of Ptolemy's astronomical interests. Ptolemy died in Alexandria c.  168 . Ptolemy's Greek name , Ptolemaeus ( Πτολεμαῖος , Ptolemaîos ), is an ancient Greek personal name . It occurs once in Greek mythology and is of Homeric form . It was common among the Macedonian upper class at the time of Alexander

868-470: A coherent mathematical description, which persists to the present as just intonation – the standard for comparison of consonance in the many other, less-than exact but more facile compromise tuning systems. During the Renaissance , Ptolemy's ideas inspired Kepler in his own musings on the harmony of the world ( Harmonice Mundi , Appendix to Book V). The Optica ( Koine Greek : Ὀπτικά ), known as

992-466: A creature that likes to drink water, and is typically used on bridge structures. The oldest known attestation of the "children of the dragon" list is found in the Shuyuan zaji ( 菽園雜記 , Miscellaneous records from the bean garden ) by Lu Rong (1436–1494); however, he noted that the list enumerates mere synonyms of various antiques, not children of a dragon. The nine sons of the dragon were commemorated by

1116-426: A crocodile. A demon's eyes. The neck of a snake. A tortoise's viscera. A hawk's claws. The palms of a tiger. A cow's ears. And it hears through its horns, its ears being deprived of all power of hearing". He notes that, "Others state it has a rabbit's eyes, a frog's belly, a carp's scales". Chinese dragons were considered to be physically concise. Of the 117 scales, 81 are of the yang essence (positive) while 36 are of

1240-507: A dozen scientific treatises , three of which were important to later Byzantine , Islamic , and Western European science. The first was his astronomical treatise now known as the Almagest , originally entitled Mathematical Treatise ( Greek : Μαθηματικὴ Σύνταξις , Mathēmatikḗ Syntaxis ). The second is the Geography , which is a thorough discussion on maps and the geographic knowledge of

1364-601: A dragon. During the Tang dynasty , emperors wore robes with dragon motif as an imperial symbol, and high officials might also be presented with dragon robes. In the Yuan dynasty , the two-horned, five-clawed dragon was designated for use by the Son of Heaven or emperor only, while the four-clawed dragon was used by the princes and nobles. Similarly, during the Ming and Qing dynasty , the five-clawed dragon

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1488-578: A few years after the death of Qin Shi Huang . With China falling into chaos during the Chu–Han Contention , Zhao Tuo split off Nanhai Commandery as the separate state of Nanyue , which he ruled from Panyu (modern Guangzhou ). In the 110s BC, the royal family of Nanyue mooted incorporating their realm as a principality of the Han dynasty . The local nobility reacted violently, killing King Zhao Xing ,

1612-402: A handful of places. Ptolemy's real innovation, however, occurs in the second part of the book, where he provides a catalogue of 8,000 localities he collected from Marinus and others, the biggest such database from antiquity. About 6 300 of these places and geographic features have assigned coordinates so that they can be placed in a grid that spanned the globe. Latitude was measured from

1736-588: A head resembling a boar . The character for "dragon" in the earliest Chinese writing has a similar coiled form, as do later jade dragon amulets from the Shang dynasty . A snake-like dragon body painted on red pottery wares was discovered at Taosi (Shanxi) from the second phase of the Longshan Culture, and a dragon-like object coated with approximately 2000 pieces of turquoise and jade was discovered at Erlitou. Chinese literature and myths refer to many dragons besides

1860-492: A long exposition on the relationship between reason and sense perception in corroborating theoretical assumptions. After criticizing the approaches of his predecessors, Ptolemy argues for basing musical intervals on mathematical ratios (as opposed to the ideas advocated by followers of Aristoxenus ), backed up by empirical observation (in contrast to the excessively theoretical approach of the Pythagoreans ). Ptolemy introduces

1984-596: A member of Ptolemaic Egypt's royal lineage , stating that the descendants of the Alexandrine general and Pharaoh Ptolemy I Soter were wise "and included Ptolemy the Wise, who composed the book of the Almagest ". Abu Ma'shar recorded a belief that a different member of this royal line "composed the book on astrology and attributed it to Ptolemy". Historical confusion on this point can be inferred from Abu Ma'shar's subsequent remark: "It

2108-587: A method for specifying the location of the Sun in three pairs of locally oriented coordinate arcs as a function of the declination of the Sun, the terrestrial latitude, and the hour. The key to the approach is to represent the solid configuration in a plane diagram that Ptolemy calls the analemma . In another work, the Phaseis ( Risings of the Fixed Stars ), Ptolemy gave a parapegma , a star calendar or almanac , based on

2232-461: A much later pseudepigraphical composition. The identity and date of the actual author of the work, referred to now as Pseudo-Ptolemy , remains the subject of conjecture. Ptolemy wrote a work entitled Harmonikon ( Greek : Ἁρμονικόν ), known as the Harmonics , on music theory and the mathematics behind musical scales in three books. Harmonics begins with a definition of harmonic theory, with

2356-501: A peasant born with a dragon birthmark who eventually overthrows the existing dynasty and founds a new one; another legend might tell of the prince in hiding from his enemies who is identified by his dragon birthmark. In contrast, the empress of China was often identified with the Chinese phoenix . Worship of the Dragon god is celebrated throughout China with sacrifices and processions during

2480-550: A state symbol in Vietnam. During the Nguyễn dynasty , the dragon was featured on the imperial standards. It was also featured on the coats of arms of the State of Vietnam , and later South Vietnam . The ancient Chinese self-identified as "the gods of the dragon" because the Chinese dragon is an imagined reptile that represents evolution from the ancestors and qi energy. Dragon-like motifs of

2604-543: A temple at Canopus , around 146–147 AD, known as the Canobic Inscription . Although the inscription has not survived, someone in the sixth century transcribed it, and manuscript copies preserved it through the Middle Ages. It begins: "To the saviour god, Claudius Ptolemy (dedicates) the first principles and models of astronomy", following by a catalogue of numbers that define a system of celestial mechanics governing

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2728-478: A thousand years or more". It was first translated from Arabic into Latin by Plato of Tivoli (Tiburtinus) in 1138, while he was in Spain. Much of the content of the Tetrabiblos was collected from earlier sources; Ptolemy's achievement was to order his material in a systematic way, showing how the subject could, in his view, be rationalized. It is, indeed, presented as the second part of the study of astronomy of which

2852-404: A tiger, his ears those of a cow. Upon his head, he has a thing like a broad eminence (a big lump), called [ chimu ] ( 尺木 ). If a dragon has no [ chimu ], he cannot ascend to the sky. Further sources give variant lists of the nine animal resemblances. Sinologist Henri Doré  [ fr ] lists these characteristics of an authentic dragon: "The antlers of a deer. The head of

2976-553: A view supported by the Stoics. Although mainly known for his contributions to astronomy and other scientific subjects, Ptolemy also engaged in epistemological and psychological discussions across his corpus. He wrote a short essay entitled On the Criterion and Hegemonikon ( Greek : Περὶ Κριτηρίου καὶ Ἡγεμονικοῡ ), which may have been one of his earliest works. Ptolemy deals specifically with how humans obtain scientific knowledge (i.e.,

3100-522: Is ancestral to the modern system of constellations but, unlike the modern system, they did not cover the whole sky (only what could be seen with the naked eye in the northern hemisphere). For over a thousand years, the Almagest was the authoritative text on astronomy across Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. The Almagest was preserved, like many extant Greek scientific works, in Arabic manuscripts;

3224-475: Is associated with the Yangshao culture shows a large dragon mosaic made out of clam shells. The Liangzhu culture also produced dragon-like patterns. The Hongshan culture sites in present-day Inner Mongolia produced jade dragon objects in the form of pig dragons which are the first 3-dimensional representations of Chinese dragons. One such early form was the pig dragon. It is a coiled, elongated creature with

3348-622: Is his Geographike Hyphegesis ( Greek : Γεωγραφικὴ Ὑφήγησις ; lit.   ' Guide to Drawing the Earth ' ), known as the Geography , a handbook on how to draw maps using geographical coordinates for parts of the Roman world known at the time. He relied on previous work by an earlier geographer, Marinus of Tyre , as well as on gazetteers of the Roman and ancient Persian Empire . He also acknowledged ancient astronomer Hipparchus for having provided

3472-401: Is mystical and not seen as a result of their physical attributes. This description accords with the artistic depictions of the dragon down to the present day. The dragon has also acquired an almost unlimited range of supernatural powers. It is said to be able to disguise itself as a silkworm , or become as large as our entire universe. It can fly among the clouds or hide in water (according to

3596-432: Is quite late, however, and there is no evidence to support it. It is known that Ptolemy lived in or around the city of Alexandria , in the Roman province of Egypt under Roman rule . He had a Latin name, Claudius, which is generally taken to imply he was a Roman citizen . He was familiar with Greek philosophers and used Babylonian observations and Babylonian lunar theory. In half of his extant works, Ptolemy addresses

3720-418: Is sometimes said that the very learned man who wrote the book of astrology also wrote the book of the Almagest . The correct answer is not known." Not much positive evidence is known on the subject of Ptolemy's ancestry, apart from what can be drawn from the details of his name, although modern scholars have concluded that Abu Ma'shar's account is erroneous. It is no longer doubted that the astronomer who wrote

3844-513: Is thought that each animal is associated with certain personality traits. Dragon years are usually the most popular to have children. There are more people born in Dragon years than in any other animal years of the zodiac . The Azure Dragon is considered to be the primary of the four celestial guardians , the other three being the Vermilion Bird , White Tiger , Black Tortoise . In this context,

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3968-626: The Almagest also wrote the Tetrabiblos as its astrological counterpart. In later Arabic sources, he was often known as "the Upper Egyptian ", suggesting he may have had origins in southern Egypt . Arabic astronomers , geographers , and physicists referred to his name in Arabic as Baṭlumyus ( Arabic : بَطْلُمْيوس ). Ptolemy wrote in Koine Greek , and can be shown to have used Babylonian astronomical data . He might have been

4092-413: The Almagest , is the only surviving comprehensive ancient treatise on astronomy. Although Babylonian astronomers had developed arithmetical techniques for calculating and predicting astronomical phenomena, these were not based on any underlying model of the heavens; early Greek astronomers, on the other hand, provided qualitative geometrical models to "save the appearances" of celestial phenomena without

4216-504: The gens Claudia ; the peculiar multipart form of the whole name Claudius Ptolemaeus is a Roman custom, characteristic of Roman citizens. This indicates that Ptolemy would have been a Roman citizen . Gerald Toomer, the translator of Ptolemy's Almagest into English, suggests that citizenship was probably granted to one of Ptolemy's ancestors by either the emperor Claudius or the emperor Nero . The 9th century Persian astronomer Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi mistakenly presents Ptolemy as

4340-662: The Almagest was the first, concerned with the influences of the celestial bodies in the sublunary sphere . Thus explanations of a sort are provided for the astrological effects of the planets , based upon their combined effects of heating, cooling, moistening, and drying. Ptolemy dismisses other astrological practices, such as considering the numerological significance of names, that he believed to be without sound basis, and leaves out popular topics, such as electional astrology (interpreting astrological charts to determine courses of action) and medical astrology , for similar reasons. The great respect in which later astrologers held

4464-410: The Geography is likely to be of different dates, in addition to containing many scribal errors. However, although the regional and world maps in surviving manuscripts date from c.  1300 AD (after the text was rediscovered by Maximus Planudes ), there are some scholars who think that such maps go back to Ptolemy himself. Ptolemy wrote an astrological treatise, in four parts, known by

4588-749: The Greco-Roman world . The third is the astrological treatise in which he attempted to adapt horoscopic astrology to the Aristotelian natural philosophy of his day. This is sometimes known as the Apotelesmatika ( Greek : Αποτελεσματικά , lit.   ' On the Effects ' ) but more commonly known as the Tetrábiblos , from the Koine Greek meaning "Four Books", or by its Latin equivalent Quadripartite . The Catholic Church promoted his work, which included

4712-549: The Guanzi ). It can form clouds, turn into water, change color as an ability to blend in with their surroundings, and be an effective form of camouflage or glow in the dark (according to the Shuowen Jiezi ). In many other countries, folktales speak of the dragon having all the attributes of the other 11 creatures of the zodiac, this includes the whiskers of the Rat , the face and horns of

4836-671: The Hongshan culture c.  4700 –2900 BC. Some of the earliest Dragon artifacts are the pig dragon carvings from the Hongshan culture. The coiled dragon or snake form played an important role in early Chinese culture. The character for "dragon" in the earliest Chinese writing has a similar coiled form, as do later jade dragon amulets from the Shang period. Ancient Chinese referred to unearthed fossil bones as " dragon bones " and documented them as such. For example, Chang Qu in 300 BC documents

4960-467: The Kētos as Chinese dragon appeared more reptilian and shifted head-shape afterwards. Chinese dragons are strongly associated with water and weather in popular religion. They are believed to be the rulers of moving bodies of water, such as waterfalls, rivers, or seas. The Dragon god is the dispenser of rain as well as the zoomorphic representation of yang, the masculine power of generation. In this capacity as

5084-569: The Manchus initially considered three-clawed dragons the most sacred and used that until 1712 when it was replaced by five-clawed dragons, and portraits of the Qing emperors were usually depicted with five-clawed dragons. In works of art that left the imperial collection, either as gifts or through pilfering by court eunuchs (a long-standing problem), where practicable, one claw was removed from each set, as in several pieces of carved lacquerware , for example

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5208-784: The Optics, is a work that survives only in a somewhat poor Latin version, which, in turn, was translated from a lost Arabic version by Eugenius of Palermo ( c.  1154 ). In it, Ptolemy writes about properties of sight (not light), including reflection , refraction , and colour . The work is a significant part of the early history of optics and influenced the more famous and superior 11th-century Book of Optics by Ibn al-Haytham . Ptolemy offered explanations for many phenomena concerning illumination and colour, size, shape, movement, and binocular vision. He also divided illusions into those caused by physical or optical factors and those caused by judgmental factors. He offered an obscure explanation of

5332-895: The Ox , the claws and teeth of the Tiger , the belly of the Rabbit , the body of the Snake , the legs of the Horse , the goatee of the Goat , the wit of the Monkey , the crest of the Rooster , the ears of the Dog , and the snout of the Pig . In some circles, it is considered bad luck to depict a dragon facing downward, as it is seen as disrespectful to place a dragon in such a manner that it cannot ascend to

5456-528: The Qinghai Lake and beyond), and the North Sea (sometimes seen as Lake Baikal ). Because of this association, they are seen as "in charge" of water-related weather phenomena. In premodern times, many Chinese villages (especially those close to rivers and seas) had temples dedicated to their local "dragon king". In times of drought or flooding, it was customary for the local gentry and government officials to lead

5580-431: The Tang dynasty , the area was organised as Annam and administered from Jiaozhi. The road to Guangzhou was reopened in 622 through negotiations which left the local Ning tribesmen in control of the nominally Chinese counties in the area. The Chinese administration was largely staffed with mandarins banished from other areas of China. Many were killed en route or succumbed to tropical diseases. Long Biên prospered in

5704-457: The Tetrabiblos derived from its nature as an exposition of theory, rather than as a manual. A collection of one hundred aphorisms about astrology called the Centiloquium , ascribed to Ptolemy, was widely reproduced and commented on by Arabic, Latin, and Hebrew scholars, and often bound together in medieval manuscripts after the Tetrabiblos as a kind of summation. It is now believed to be

5828-461: The equator , as it is today, but Ptolemy preferred to express it as climata , the length of the longest day rather than degrees of arc : The length of the midsummer day increases from 12h to 24h as one goes from the equator to the polar circle . One of the places Ptolemy noted specific coordinates for was the now-lost stone tower which marked the midpoint on the ancient Silk Road , and which scholars have been trying to locate ever since. In

5952-519: The harmonic canon (Greek name) or monochord (Latin name), which is an experimental musical apparatus that he used to measure relative pitches, and used to describe to his readers how to demonstrate the relations discussed in the following chapters for themselves. After the early exposition on to build and use monochord to test proposed tuning systems, Ptolemy proceeds to discuss Pythagorean tuning (and how to demonstrate that their idealized musical scale fails in practice). The Pythagoreans believed that

6076-430: The "criterion" of truth), as well as with the nature and structure of the human psyche or soul, particularly its ruling faculty (i.e., the hegemonikon ). Ptolemy argues that, to arrive at the truth, one should use both reason and sense perception in ways that complement each other. On the Criterion is also noteworthy for being the only one of Ptolemy's works that is devoid of mathematics . Elsewhere, Ptolemy affirms

6200-518: The Arabs and Byzantines. His work on epicycles has come to symbolize a very complex theoretical model built in order to explain a false assumption. Ptolemy's date of birth and birthplace are both unknown. The 14th-century astronomer Theodore Meliteniotes wrote that Ptolemy's birthplace was Ptolemais Hermiou , a Greek city in the Thebaid region of Egypt (now El Mansha, Sohag Governorate ). This attestation

6324-534: The Azure Dragon is associated with the East and the element of Wood. Ptolemy This is an accepted version of this page Claudius Ptolemy ( / ˈ t ɒ l ə m i / ; Ancient Greek : Πτολεμαῖος , Ptolemaios ; Latin : Claudius Ptolemaeus ; c.  100  – c.  170 AD) was an Alexandrian mathematician , astronomer , astrologer , geographer , and music theorist who wrote about

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6448-673: The Chinese dragon have different preferences; in Mongolia and Korea, four-clawed dragons are used, while in Japan , three-clawed dragons are common. In China, three-clawed dragons were popularly used on robes during the Tang dynasty. The usage of the dragon motif was codified during the Yuan dynasty, and the five-clawed dragons became reserved for use by the emperor while the princes used four-clawed dragons. Phoenixes and five-clawed two-horned dragons may not be used on

6572-470: The Chinese, it was mainly reached overland through the Gate of Ghosts — Han Yu noted that officials arrived "only after several months" of travel—while direct maritime trade with Guangzhou, Malaysia, and India was often in the hands of Arabs and Persians. In addition to maritime and overland routes to Guangzhou, there was a great road to Champa in the south. Another route—often disrupted by conflict—led northwest on

6696-485: The French astronomer Delambre in the early 1800s which were repeated by R.R. Newton. Specifically, it proved Hipparchus was not the sole source of Ptolemy's catalog, as they both had claimed, and proved that Ptolemy did not simply copy Hipparchus' measurements and adjust them to account for precession of the equinoxes, as they had claimed. Scientists analyzing the charts concluded: It also confirms that Ptolemy’s Star Catalogue

6820-564: The Great and there were several of this name among Alexander's army, one of whom made himself pharaoh in 323 BC: Ptolemy I Soter , the first pharaoh of the Ptolemaic Kingdom . Almost all subsequent pharaohs of Egypt, with a few exceptions, were named Ptolemy until Egypt became a Roman province in 30 BC, ending the Macedonian family's rule. The name Claudius is a Roman name, belonging to

6944-473: The Greek term Tetrabiblos (lit. "Four Books") or by its Latin equivalent Quadripartitum . Its original title is unknown, but may have been a term found in some Greek manuscripts, Apotelesmatiká ( biblía ), roughly meaning "(books) on the Effects" or "Outcomes", or "Prognostics". As a source of reference, the Tetrabiblos is said to have "enjoyed almost the authority of a Bible among the astrological writers of

7068-420: The Ming dynasty emulated the Yuan dynasty rules on the use of the dragon motif and decreed that the dragon would be his emblem and that it should have five claws. The four-clawed dragon would be used typically for imperial nobility and certain high-ranking officials. The three-clawed dragon was used by lower ranks and the general public (widely seen on various Chinese goods in the Ming dynasty). The dragon, however,

7192-512: The Nine Offspring of the Dragon ( 龍生九子 ), and subsequently these feature prominently in popular Chinese stories and writings. The scholar Xie Zhaozhe  [ zh ] (1567–1624) in his work Wu Za Zu Wuzazu  [ zh ] (c. 1592) gives the following listing, as rendered by M. W. de Visser: A well-known work of the end of the sixteenth century, the Wuzazu 五雜俎 , informs us about

7316-576: The Queen Dowager Jiushi ( 樛氏 ), and several Chinese diplomats. The first army sent by Emperor Wu under Han Qianqiu was defeated in 112 BC, but the next year a much larger force assembled under Lu Bode and Yang Pu , besieging Panyu, conquering the kingdom , and initiating the " First Northern Domination " of Vietnam. The Han dynasty organised the region into a province , Jiao Province . Shi Dai administered it from Lianshou ( Liên Thụ ) rather than Panyu . In 106 BC, this

7440-540: The Shanghai Mint in 2012's year of the dragon with two sets of coins, one in silver, and one in brass. Each coin in the sets depicts one of the 9 sons, including an additional coin for the father dragon, which depicts the nine sons on the reverse. It's also a Chinese idiom, which means among brothers each one has his good points. Originally, early Chinese dragons are mostly depicted with three claws, but they can range from two to five claws. Different countries that adopted

7564-455: The Sun or Moon illusion (the enlarged apparent size on the horizon) based on the difficulty of looking upwards. The work is divided into three major sections. The first section (Book II) deals with direct vision from first principles and ends with a discussion of binocular vision. The second section (Books III-IV) treats reflection in plane, convex, concave, and compound mirrors. The last section (Book V) deals with refraction and includes

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7688-470: The Yan Emperor, was born by his mother's telepathy with a mythical dragon. This legend also contributed towards the use of the Chinese dragon as a symbol of imperial power. Dragons (usually with five claws on each foot) were a symbol for the emperor in many Chinese dynasties . During the Qing dynasty, the imperial dragon was colored yellow or gold, and during the Ming dynasty it was red. The imperial throne

7812-422: The ability to make any predictions. The earliest person who attempted to merge these two approaches was Hipparchus , who produced geometric models that not only reflected the arrangement of the planets and stars but could be used to calculate celestial motions. Ptolemy, following Hipparchus, derived each of his geometrical models for the Sun, Moon, and the planets from selected astronomical observations done in

7936-613: The addition of the Yellow Dragon of the center to Azure Dragon of the East, these Vermilion, White, and Black Dragons coordinate with the Four Symbols, including the Vermilion Bird of the South, White Tiger of the West, and Black Tortoise of the North. Dragons were varyingly thought to be able to control and embody various natural elements in their "mythic form" such as " water , air, earth, fire , light, wind, storm, [and] electricity". Some dragons who were able to breathe fire were thought to be exiled from tiān and banished to Earth. Several Ming dynasty texts list what were claimed as

8060-423: The appearances and disappearances of stars over the course of the solar year. The Planisphaerium ( Greek : Ἅπλωσις ἐπιφανείας σφαίρας , lit.   ' Flattening of the sphere ' ) contains 16 propositions dealing with the projection of the celestial circles onto a plane. The text is lost in Greek (except for a fragment) and survives in Arabic and Latin only. Ptolemy also erected an inscription in

8184-453: The capital was renamed Thăng Long , which name was revived by the later Trần and Lê dynasties. Chinese dragon The Chinese dragon or loong is a legendary creature in Chinese mythology , Chinese folklore , and Chinese culture generally. Chinese dragons have many animal-like forms, such as turtles and fish , but are most commonly depicted as snake-like with four legs. Academicians have identified four reliable theories on

8308-412: The commanderies of Nanhai , Cangwu , Yulin , Hepu , Jiuzhen , and Rinan . Jiaozhi also held the counties of Léilóu ( 羸𨻻 , Luy Lâu ), Āndìng ( 安定 , An Định ), Gǒulòu ( 苟屚 , Cẩu Lậu ), Mílíng ( 麊泠 , Mê Linh ), Qūyáng ( 曲昜 , Khúc Dương ), Běidài ( 北帶 , Bắc Đái ), Jīxú ( 稽徐 , Kê Từ ), Xīyú ( 西于 , Tây Vu ) and Zhūgòu ( 朱覯 , Chu Cấu). Long Biên

8432-449: The community in offering sacrifices and conducting other religious rites to appease the dragon, either to ask for rain or a cessation thereof. The King of Wuyue in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period was often known as the "Dragon King" or the "Sea Dragon King" because of his extensive hydro-engineering schemes which "tamed" the sea. In coastal regions of China, Korea, Vietnam, traditional legends and worshipping of whale gods as

8556-458: The data needed to compute the positions of the Sun, Moon and planets, the rising and setting of the stars, and eclipses of the Sun and Moon, making it a useful tool for astronomers and astrologers. The tables themselves are known through Theon of Alexandria 's version. Although Ptolemy's Handy Tables do not survive as such in Arabic or in Latin, they represent the prototype of most Arabic and Latin astronomical tables or zījes . Additionally,

8680-430: The discovery of "dragon bones" in Sichuan . While these "dragon bones" have often been asserted in modern times to be dinosaur bones, according to palaeontologist Mark Witton there is little evidence of this (aside a recent report of villagers collecting dinosaur bones as "dragon bones" from 2007), with historical accounts of "dragon bones" from the 19th century suggest that they were predominantly those of mammals, such as

8804-510: The dragon and nine sons of the dragon (see Classical depictions above). The Nine-Dragon Wall is a spirit wall with images of nine different dragons, and is found in imperial Chinese palaces and gardens. Because nine was considered the number of the emperor, only the most senior officials were allowed to wear nine dragons on their robes—and then only with the robe completely covered with surcoats . Lower-ranking officials had eight or five dragons on their robes, again covered with surcoats; even

8928-404: The dragon), to wit: from head to shoulder, from shoulder to breast, and from breast to tail. These are the joints; as to the nine resemblances, they are the following: his antlers resemble those of a stag, his head that of a camel, his eyes those of a demon, his neck that of a snake, his belly that of a clam ( shen , 蜃 ), his scales those of a carp, his claws those of an eagle, his soles those of

9052-402: The earliest surviving table of refraction from air to water, for which the values (with the exception of the 60° angle of incidence) show signs of being obtained from an arithmetic progression. However, according to Mark Smith, Ptolemy's table was based in part on real experiments. Ptolemy's theory of vision consisted of rays (or flux) coming from the eye forming a cone, the vertex being within

9176-469: The elevation of the north celestial pole for a few cities. Although maps based on scientific principles had been made since the time of Eratosthenes ( c.  276  – c.  195 BC ), Ptolemy improved on map projections . The first part of the Geography is a discussion of the data and of the methods he used. Ptolemy notes the supremacy of astronomical data over land measurements or travelers' reports, though he possessed these data for only

9300-554: The emperor himself wore his dragon robe with one of its nine dragons hidden from view. There are a number of places in China called "Nine Dragons", the most famous being Kowloon in Hong Kong. The part of the Mekong in Vietnam is known as Cửu Long , with the same meaning. The dragon is one of the 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac which is used to designate years in the Chinese calendar . It

9424-488: The emperor of the Eastern Wu state, and sent his eldest son Shi Xin ( 士廞 ) as a hostage to Sun Quan to convince the emperor of his loyalty. Using the area's thriving foreign trade, Shi Xie provided large amounts of tribute and eventually seated his three brothers Shi Yi ( 士壹 ), Shi Wei (士䵋), and Shi Wu ( 士武 ) as grand administrators over the neighbouring commanderies of Hepu , Jiuzhen , and Nanhai respectively. He received

9548-425: The empirical musical relations he identified by testing pitches against each other: He was able to accurately measure relative pitches based on the ratios of vibrating lengths two separate sides of the same single string , hence which were assured to be under equal tension, eliminating one source of error. He analyzed the empirically determined ratios of "pleasant" pairs of pitches, and then synthesised all of them into

9672-437: The extinct horse Hipparion . From its origins as totems or the stylized depiction of natural creatures, the Chinese dragon evolved to become a mythical animal. The Han dynasty scholar Wang Fu recorded Chinese myths that long dragons had nine anatomical resemblances. The people paint the dragon's shape with a horse's head and a snake's tail. Further, there are expressions such as 'three joints' and 'nine resemblances' (of

9796-419: The eye, and the base defining the visual field. The rays were sensitive, and conveyed information back to the observer's intellect about the distance and orientation of surfaces. Size and shape were determined by the visual angle subtended at the eye combined with perceived distance and orientation. This was one of the early statements of size-distance invariance as a cause of perceptual size and shape constancy,

9920-407: The famous long . The linguist Michael Carr analyzed over 100 ancient dragon names attested in Chinese classic texts . Fewer Chinese dragon names derive from the word long 龍 : Some additional Chinese dragons are not named long , for instance, Chinese scholars have classified dragons in diverse systems. For instance, Emperor Huizong of Song canonized five colored dragons as "kings". With

10044-818: The fifth and sixth moons, and especially on the date of his birthday the thirteenth day of the sixth moon. A folk religious movement of associations of good-doing in modern Hebei is primarily devoted to a generic Dragon god whose icon is a tablet with his name inscribed, for which it has been named the "movement of the Dragon Tablet". Dragons or dragon-like depictions have been found extensively in neolithic-period archaeological sites throughout China. Some of earliest depictions of dragons were found at Xinglongwa culture sites. Yangshao culture sites in Xi'an have produced clay pots with dragon motifs. A burial site Xishuipo in Puyang which

10168-537: The governor of Jiao Province. Huan Lin ( 桓鄰 ), one of Shi Hui's subordinates, spoke in favour of surrendering to the legitimate administrator but ended up being killed by Shi Hui; Huan Lin's nephew, Huan Fa ( 桓發 ), then led his men to besiege Jiaozhi Commandery for months. Shi Hui's cousin, Shi Kuang ( 士匡 ), managed to convince Shi Hui to surrender when Sun Quan's forces, led by the general Lü Dai , showed up at Jiaozhi Commandery. Lü Dai pretended to accept Shi Hui's surrender, then later had him and his brothers executed and

10292-554: The guardians of people on the sea have been referred to Dragon Kings after the arrival of Buddhism. According to Chinese legend, both Chinese primogenitors, the earliest Door and the Yellow Emperor , were closely related to the dragon. At the end of his reign, the first legendary ruler, the Yellow Emperor, was said to have been immortalized into a dragon that resembled his emblem, and ascended to Heaven. The other legendary ruler,

10416-553: The history of science". One striking error noted by Newton was an autumn equinox said to have been observed by Ptolemy and "measured with the greatest care" at 2pm on 25 September 132, when the equinox should have been observed around 9:55am the day prior. In attempting to disprove Newton, Herbert Lewis also found himself agreeing that "Ptolemy was an outrageous fraud," and that "all those result capable of statistical analysis point beyond question towards fraud and against accidental error". The charges laid by Newton and others have been

10540-599: The introduction to the Handy Tables survived separately from the tables themselves (apparently part of a gathering of some of Ptolemy's shorter writings) under the title Arrangement and Calculation of the Handy Tables . The Planetary Hypotheses ( Greek : Ὑποθέσεις τῶν πλανωμένων , lit.   ' Hypotheses of the Planets ' ) is a cosmological work, probably one of the last written by Ptolemy, in two books dealing with

10664-500: The mathematics of music should be based on only the one specific ratio of 3:2, the perfect fifth , and believed that tunings mathematically exact to their system would prove to be melodious, if only the extremely large numbers involved could be calculated (by hand). To the contrary, Ptolemy believed that musical scales and tunings should in general involve multiple different ratios arranged to fit together evenly into smaller tetrachords (combinations of four pitch ratios which together make

10788-555: The modern title is thought to be an Arabic corruption of the Greek name Hē Megistē Syntaxis (lit. "The greatest treatise"), as the work was presumably known in Late Antiquity . Because of its reputation, it was widely sought and translated twice into Latin in the 12th century , once in Sicily and again in Spain. Ptolemy's planetary models, like those of the majority of his predecessors, were geocentric and almost universally accepted until

10912-477: The motions of the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars. In 2023, archaeologists were able to read a manuscript which gives instructions for the construction of an astronomical tool called a meteoroscope ( μετεωροσκόπιον or μετεωροσκοπεῖον ). The text, which comes from an eighth-century manuscript which also contains Ptolemy's Analemma , was identified on the basis of both its content and linguistic analysis as being by Ptolemy. Ptolemy's second most well-known work

11036-522: The nine different young of the dragon, whose shapes are used as ornaments according to their nature. Further, the same author enumerates nine other kinds of dragons, which are represented as ornaments of different objects or buildings according to their liking prisons, water, the rank smell of newly caught fish or newly killed meat, wind and rain, ornaments, smoke, shutting the mouth (used for adorning key-holes), standing on steep places (placed on roofs), and fire. The Sheng'an waiji ( 升庵外集 ) collection by

11160-481: The noble title Marquis of Longbian and fostered Buddhism in his territories, for which he is still worshipped under the name "King Si" ( Vietnamese : Sĩ Vương ). After Shi Xie's death in 226, Sun Quan divided Jiao Province , creating a new Guang Province from Jiao Province's northern commanderies. Shi Xie's third son, Shi Hui ( 士徽 ), attempted to resist this move by seizing control of Jiaozhi Commandery and opposing Dai Liang ( 戴良 ), whom Sun Quan had appointed as

11284-461: The observations were taken at 12:30pm. The overall quality of Ptolemy's observations has been challenged by several modern scientists, but prominently by Robert R. Newton in his 1977 book The Crime of Claudius Ptolemy , which asserted that Ptolemy fabricated many of his observations to fit his theories. Newton accused Ptolemy of systematically inventing data or doctoring the data of earlier astronomers, and labelled him "the most successful fraud in

11408-591: The only mathematically sound geocentric model of the Solar System , and unlike most Greek mathematicians , Ptolemy's writings (foremost the Almagest ) never ceased to be copied or commented upon, both in late antiquity and in the Middle Ages . However, it is likely that only a few truly mastered the mathematics necessary to understand his works, as evidenced particularly by the many abridged and watered-down introductions to Ptolemy's astronomy that were popular among

11532-430: The origin of the Chinese dragon: snakes , Chinese alligators , thunder worship and nature worship . They traditionally symbolize potent and auspicious powers, particularly control over water. Historically, the Chinese dragon was associated with the emperor of China and used as a symbol to represent imperial power. Liu Bang , the founder of the Han dynasty , claimed that he was conceived after his mother dreamt of

11656-566: The poet Yang Shen (1488–1559) gives different 5th and 9th names for the dragon's nine children: the taotie , form of beasts, which loves to eat and is found on food-related wares, and the jiāo tú ( 椒圖 ), which looks like a conch or clam, does not like to be disturbed, and is used on the front door or the doorstep. Yang's list is bì xì , chī wěn or cháo fēng , pú láo , bì àn , tāo tiè , qiú niú , yá zì , suān ní , and jiāo tú . In addition, there are some sayings including [ bā xià 𧈢𧏡 ], Hybrid of reptilia animal and dragon,

11780-401: The radius of the sphere of the fixed stars was 20 000 times the radius of the Earth. The work is also notable for having descriptions on how to build instruments to depict the planets and their movements from a geocentric perspective, much as an orrery would have done for a heliocentric one, presumably for didactic purposes. The Analemma is a short treatise where Ptolemy provides

11904-486: The reappearance of heliocentric models during the scientific revolution . Under the scrutiny of modern scholarship, and the cross-checking of observations contained in the Almagest against figures produced through backwards extrapolation, various patterns of errors have emerged within the work. A prominent miscalculation is Ptolemy's use of measurements that he claimed were taken at noon, but which systematically produce readings now shown to be off by half an hour, as if

12028-610: The rest of the Shi family reduced to commoner status. In 248, Lady Triệu and others rebelled, but most were bought off by Lu Yin ( 陸胤 ) and the revolt collapsed. At the establishment of the Jin dynasty in 280, Yin Ju was appointed grand administrator over Jiaozhi at Long Biên. Bu Zhi reunited Jiao and Guang provinces, but kept the capital in the latter. After Ly Bi 's successful revolt in AD ;544, it

12152-420: The robes of officials and other objects such as plates and vessels in the Yuan dynasty. It was further stipulated that for commoners, "it is forbidden to wear any cloth with patterns of Qilin , Male Fenghuang (Chinese phoenix), White rabbit , Lingzhi , Five-Toe Two-Horn Dragon, Eight Dragons, Nine Dragons, ' Ten thousand years ', Fortune-longevity character and Golden Yellow etc." The Hongwu Emperor of

12276-725: The rulers of water and weather, the dragon is more anthropomorphic in form, often depicted as a humanoid, dressed in a king's costume, but with a dragon head wearing a king's headdress. There are four major Dragon Kings , representing each of the Four Seas : the East Sea (corresponding to the East China Sea ), the South Sea (corresponding to the South China Sea ), the West Sea (sometimes seen as

12400-511: The second half of the 8th century and early 9th century not so much on its own merits but owing to corruption at Guangzhou, continuing despite a major Arab and Persian raid on the city in 758. and subsequent corruption there that diverted a great deal of the foreign trade to the Red River. The Chinese garrisons in the country repeatedly mutinied during the 9th century. At the establishment of the Lý dynasty ,

12524-405: The secondary literature, while noting that issues with the accuracy of Ptolemy's observations had long been known. Other authors have pointed out that instrument warping or atmospheric refraction may also explain some of Ptolemy's observations at a wrong time. In 2022 the first Greek fragments of Hipparchus' lost star catalog were discovered in a palimpsest and they debunked accusations made by

12648-558: The sky. Also, depictions of dragons in tattoos are prevalent as they are symbols of strength and power, especially criminal organisations where dragons hold a meaning all on their own. As such, it is believed that one must be fierce and strong enough, hence earning the right to wear the dragon on his skin, lest his luck be consumed by the dragons. According to an art historian John Boardman , depictions of Chinese Dragon and Indian Makara might have been influenced by Cetus in Greek mythology possibly after contact with silk-road images of

12772-474: The spanning of more than 800 years; however, many astronomers have for centuries suspected that some of his models' parameters were adopted independently of observations. Ptolemy presented his astronomical models alongside convenient tables, which could be used to compute the future or past position of the planets. The Almagest also contains a star catalogue , which is a version of a catalogue created by Hipparchus . Its list of forty-eight constellations

12896-451: The spheres ). Although Ptolemy's Harmonics never had the influence of his Almagest or Geography , it is nonetheless a well-structured treatise and contains more methodological reflections than any other of his writings. In particular, it is a nascent form of what in the following millennium developed into the scientific method, with specific descriptions of the experimental apparatus that he built and used to test musical conjectures, and

13020-440: The structure of the universe and the laws that govern celestial motion . Ptolemy goes beyond the mathematical models of the Almagest to present a physical realization of the universe as a set of nested spheres, in which he used the epicycles of his planetary model to compute the dimensions of the universe. He estimated the Sun was at an average distance of 1 210 Earth radii (now known to actually be ~23 450 radii), while

13144-517: The subject of wide discussions and received significant push back from other scholars against the findings. Owen Gingerich , while agreeing that the Almagest contains "some remarkably fishy numbers", including in the matter of the 30-hour displaced equinox, which he noted aligned perfectly with predictions made by Hipparchus 278 years earlier, rejected the qualification of fraud. Objections were also raised by Bernard Goldstein , who questioned Newton's findings and suggested that he had misunderstood

13268-496: The supremacy of mathematical knowledge over other forms of knowledge. Like Aristotle before him, Ptolemy classifies mathematics as a type of theoretical philosophy; however, Ptolemy believes mathematics to be superior to theology or metaphysics because the latter are conjectural while only the former can secure certain knowledge. This view is contrary to the Platonic and Aristotelian traditions, where theology or metaphysics occupied

13392-573: The third part of the Geography , Ptolemy gives instructions on how to create maps both of the whole inhabited world ( oikoumenē ) and of the Roman provinces, including the necessary topographic lists, and captions for the maps. His oikoumenē spanned 180 degrees of longitude from the Blessed Islands in the Atlantic Ocean to the middle of China , and about 80 degrees of latitude from Shetland to anti-Meroe (east coast of Africa ); Ptolemy

13516-571: The town and driving Su back to Nanhai. Their capital was at nearby Me Linh . Ma Yuan , assisted by Liu Long and Duan Zhi , defeated them at Langbo ( Tây Hồ ) in 42 and defeated and captured them in 43. The period following their defeat is reckoned as the " Second Northern Domination " in Vietnamese history . During the Three Kingdoms period , the grand administrator of Jiaozhi Commandery , Shi Xie , declared allegiance to Sun Quan ,

13640-517: The upper Red River and the "Clear River" through "Feng-chou" to Yunnan . Deng Rang served as the grand administrator of Jiaozhi at the revival of the Han dynasty in AD 29. Su Ding was appointed grand administrator in 34. The revolt of the Trung Sisters from AD 40–43 was occasioned by the treatment they received by Su Ding ( 蘇定 ). They besieged the settlement as one of their first acts, taking

13764-509: The well known Chinese lacquerware table in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The number nine is special in China as it is seen as the number of heaven, and Chinese dragons are frequently connected with it. For example, a Chinese dragon is normally described in terms of nine attributes and usually has 117 (9×13) scales—81 (9×9) Yang and 36 (9×4) Yin. This is also why there are nine forms of

13888-625: The wolf may be used by the Mongols as it is considered to be their legendary ancestor. The dragon was the symbol of the Chinese emperor for many dynasties. During the Qing dynasty, the Azure Dragon was featured on the first Chinese national flag. It was featured again on the Twelve Symbols national emblem , which was used during the Republic of China , from 1913 to 1928. The dragon has been used as

14012-473: The yin essence (negative). Initially, the dragon was benevolent, wise, and just, but the Buddhists introduced the concept of malevolent influence among some dragons. Just as water destroys, they said, so can some dragons destroy via floods, tidal waves, and storms. They suggested that some of the worst floods were believed to have been the result of a mortal upsetting a dragon. Many pictures of Chinese dragons show

14136-527: Was later to become a feature of the design of Brand Hong Kong , a government promotional symbol. The Chinese dragon has very different connotations from the European dragon – in European cultures, the dragon is a fire-breathing creature with aggressive connotations, whereas the Chinese dragon is a spiritual and cultural symbol that represents prosperity and good luck, as well as a rain deity that fosters harmony. It

14260-514: Was later transferred to Songping after the Sui conquest in 602 and to a third site which became present-day Hanoi in the later 8th century. It is also sometimes anachronistically referenced as "Hanoi". The capital of the early Vietnamese kingdom of Au Lac had been at Co Loa in present-day Hanoi 's Dong Anh district . The area was conquered by the Qin dynasty general Zhao Tuo between 208 and 207 BC,

14384-485: Was moved to Guangxin ( Quảng Tín ) in Cangwu Commandery . Long Biên is sometimes given as the provincial capital instead, but this did not occur until the time of Shi Xie in the transition between the Han dynasty and Three Kingdoms period . Long Biên was the capital of Jiaozhi Commandery and Longbian County , but it was not named before the erection of its citadel in AD 208. Jiao Province also held

14508-464: Was not based solely on data from Hipparchus’ Catalogue. ... These observations are consistent with the view that Ptolemy composed his star catalogue by combining various sources, including Hipparchus’ catalogue, his own observations and, possibly, those of other authors. The Handy Tables ( Greek : Πρόχειροι κανόνες ) are a set of astronomical tables, together with canons for their use. To facilitate astronomical calculations, Ptolemy tabulated all

14632-399: Was only for select royalty closely associated with the imperial family, usually in various symbolic colors, while it was a capital offense for anyone—other than the emperor himself—to ever use the completely gold-colored, five-clawed Long dragon motif . Improper use of claw number or colors was considered treason, punishable by execution of the offender's entire clan. During the Qing dynasty,

14756-564: Was referred to as the Dragon Throne . During the late Qing dynasty, the dragon was even adopted as the national flag. Dragons are featured in carvings on the stairs and walkways of imperial palaces and imperial tombs, such as at the Forbidden City in Beijing. In some Chinese legends, an emperor might be born with a birthmark in the shape of a dragon. For example, one legend tells the tale of

14880-490: Was reported that the Chinese government decided against using the dragon as its official 2008 Summer Olympics mascot because of the aggressive connotations that dragons have outside of China and chose more "friendly" symbols instead. Sometimes Chinese people use the term "Descendants of the Dragon" ( 龙的传人 ; 龍的傳人 ) as a sign of ethnic identity, as part of a trend started in the 1970s when different Asian nationalities were looking for animal symbols as representations. For example,

15004-526: Was strictly reserved for use by the emperor only. The dragon in the Qing dynasty appeared on the flag of the Qing dynasty . The dragon is sometimes used in the West as a national emblem of China, though such use is not commonly seen in the People's Republic of China or Taiwan . Instead, it is generally used as the symbol of culture. In Hong Kong , the dragon was a component of the coat of arms under British rule. It

15128-431: Was the capital of Van Xuan . The Sui general Liu Fang retook the area in 603, removing the Chinese administration to Songping ( Tông Binh ) on the south shore of the Red River. Long Biên and Tông Binh were elevated to county or prefecture status under the names "Longzhou" and "Songzhou" in 621 but these were abolished only a few years later. This period is known as the " Third Northern Domination ". Under

15252-401: Was the major Chinese entrepôt for foreign trade in antiquity and is one of major contenders for Ptolemy 's Cattigara . The local products were bananas , areca nuts , sharkskin , python bile and kingfisher feathers, although the district between it and Guangzhou was rich in silver , cinnabar and mercury . Cen Shen also wrote that the country "abounds in treasures and jewels ". For

15376-499: Was well aware that he knew about only a quarter of the globe, and an erroneous extension of China southward suggests his sources did not reach all the way to the Pacific Ocean. It seems likely that the topographical tables in the second part of the work (Books 2–7) are cumulative texts, which were altered as new knowledge became available in the centuries after Ptolemy. This means that information contained in different parts of

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