John Greaves
Encyclopedia
John Greaves was an English
mathematician
, astronomer
and antiquary
.
, near Alresford
, Hampshire
. He was the eldest son of John Greaves, rector of Colemore
, and Sarah Greaves. His brothers were Nicholas Greaves
, Thomas Greaves
and Sir Edward Greaves
, physician to Charles II
.
His father ran a school for sons of the neighbouring gentry, where Greaves began his education. Aged 15, he went to Balliol College, Oxford
between 1617–1621, gaining a B.A.
degree. In 1624 he was the first of five newly-elected Fellows of Merton College, becoming M.A. in 1628. He began to study astronomy and oriental languages, and especially the works of the ancient eastern astronomers. In 1630 Greaves was chosen professor of geometry
at Gresham College, London. Through his predecessor, Peter Turner, he later met archbishop
William Laud
, the chancellor of Oxford University and Visitor (patron) of Merton College. Laud was keen to make English editions of Greek and Arabic authors, and Greaves' later travels abroad involved collecting manuscripts and books for presentation to his new patron.
Greaves enrolled at University of Leyden in 1633, where he became friends with Jacob Golius, professor of Arabic at Leyden. He enrolled at the University of Padua
in 1635 along with George Ent
, meeting the Dane Johan Rode (John Rhodius), an expert on ancient weights and measures, who also made a commentary on Celsus
. A brief return to England was followed by a second European journey; in 1636 he sailed via Livorno
(Leghorn) to Rome, dining with Ent on 5 October at the English College, Rome; he also met William Harvey
, who was entertained at the College on the 12th, Gasparo Berti
, Lucas Holstenius
and Athanasius Kircher
. Probably in the same month he met and consulted with the Earl of Arundel
's art-collecting agent, William Petty (who dined at the College on 14 October), on the Earl's attempted acquisition of the Obelisk of Domitian, then still lying broken in the Circus of Maxentius
. Though 'now it is broken into 5 stones' he measured these and including a sketch of the obelisk as hypothetically repaired in his almanac-notebook (Bodleian Library Savile MS 49,1). Though Arundel paid a 60 crown deposit for the obelisk, pope Urban VIII
vetoed its export and it was erected by his successor Innocent X
above Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers in the Piazza Navona
.
Greaves toured the Catacombs
and made drawings of the Pantheon
and Pyramid of Cestius
. During his stay in Rome he instituted inquiries into the ancient weights and measures that are among the early classics of metrology
.
In 1637 he made a journey to the Levant
, one (unfulfilled) intention being to fix the latitude
of Alexandria
where Ptolemy
had made his astronomical observations. He sailed from England to Livorno in the company of Edward Pococke
; after a brief visit to Rome, he arrived in Istanbul
(Constantinople) around April 1638. There he made the acquaintance of the English ambassador Sir Peter Wyche
. He procured various manuscripts there, including a copy of Ptolemy
's Almagest
("the fairest work I ever saw"). Greaves ended up owning two copies of the Almagest. He was going to have visited the many monastic libraries at Mount Athos
, in order to make a catalogue of their MSS and unprinted books. Athos was normally open only to members of the Orthodox church, but thanks to a special dispensation from the Patriarch of Constantinople
Cyril Lucaris
, Greaves would have had access; but the execution of the patriarch by strangulation in June 1638 for treason against Sultan Murad IV
prevented his journey.
Instead, Greaves continued on to Alexandria, where he collected a number of Arabic
, Persian
and Greek
manuscripts. He was an inveterate note-taker, making countless observations in notebooks and on blank pages of other books he bought; he also visited Cairo twice, and made a more accurate survey of the pyramids of Egypt
than any traveller who had preceded him. He returned to England in 1640.
On the death of John Bainbridge in 1643, Greaves was appointed as Savilian professor of astronomy and senior reader of the Linacre
lecture at Oxford; but he was deprived of his Gresham professorship for having neglected its duties. In 1645 he essayed a reformation of the calendar
; but although his plan (of omitting the bissextile day for the next 40 years) was approved by the king, the matter was dropped owing to the turbulent times
.
, through an earlier dispute in 1638 between Nathaniel Brent
, the Warden of Merton, and Greaves' patron William Laud
. Brent had been a hostile witness at Laud's 1644 trial. After Laud was executed on 10 January 1645, Greaves drew up a petition for Brent's removal from office; Brent was deposed by Charles I on 27 January.
However, in 1647 a parliamentary commission (visitation) was set up by Parliament "for the correction of offences, abuses, and disorders" in the University of Oxford. Nathaniel Brent was the president of the visitors. After Thomas Fairfax had captured Oxford for the Parliamentarians in 1648 and Brent had returned from London, Greaves was accused of sequestrating the college's plate and funds for king Charles
. Despite a deposition from his brother Thomas
, Greaves had lost both his Merton fellowship and his Savilian chair by 9 November 1648. Many of his books and MSS disappeared after his rooms were rifled by soldiers, although his friend John Selden
managed to recover some of them. However, Greaves was not actually deprived of the professorship until August 1649. He was succeeded as Savilian Professor of Astronomy in that year by Seth Ward, who ensured that Greaves was paid the arrears (£500) of his salary; Greaves was unlikely to have got his money, since the Savilian professors were paid from the income of lands held in Kent and Essex, which were under control of Parliament (rather than the king). Ward also gave over a considerable amount of his own salary to Greaves.
But Greaves' private fortune more than sufficed for all his wants till his death; he retired to London, married and occupied his leisure writing and editing books and manuscripts. He died in London aged 50, and was buried in the church of St Benet Sherehog
, which was destroyed during the Great Fire of London
.
His brother Nicholas Greaves
was his executor. He left his cabinet containing his coin collection to Sir John Marsham
, and his astronomical instruments to the Savilian library, now part of the Bodleian Library
. Two of his astrolabes (inscribed by his brother Nicholas) are in the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford. (see External links)
The first two were reprinted (together with a biographical notice of the author) as part of Miscellaneous works of Mr. John Greaves. This also contains a reprint of
Translations:
These three works appeared in Hudson, John (1712): Geographiae Veteris Scriptores Graeci Minores Vol. III, Oxon. (in Latin)
The following work is probably not by John Greaves:
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
, astronomer
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
and antiquary
Antiquarian
An antiquarian or antiquary is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient objects of art or science, archaeological and historic sites, or historic archives and manuscripts...
.
Life
He was born in ColemoreColemore
Colemore is a village in East Hampshire about northwest of Petersfield.The former Church of England parish church of St Peter ad Vincula dates from the 12th century...
, near Alresford
Old Alresford
Old Alresford is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England. It is situated some 1 km north of the town of New Alresford, 12 km north-east of the city of Winchester, and 20 km south-west of the town of Alton....
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
. He was the eldest son of John Greaves, rector of Colemore
Colemore
Colemore is a village in East Hampshire about northwest of Petersfield.The former Church of England parish church of St Peter ad Vincula dates from the 12th century...
, and Sarah Greaves. His brothers were Nicholas Greaves
Nicholas Greaves
Nicholas Greaves, D.D. was an English churchman who was Dean of Dromore cathedral, County Down.-Life:He was the second son of John Greaves, rector of Colemore, near Alresford, Hampshire. His brothers were John Greaves, Sir Edward Greaves and Thomas Greaves.He studied as a commoner at St. Mary's...
, Thomas Greaves
Thomas Greaves (orientalist)
Thomas Greaves was an English orientalist, a contributor to the London Polyglot of Brian Walton.-Life:He was a son of the Rev. John Greaves of Colemore, Hampshire, and brother of John Greaves, Nicholas Greaves and of Sir Edward Greaves...
and Sir Edward Greaves
Edward Greaves (physician)
Sir Edward Greaves, 1st Baronet , was an English physician.Greaves was the son of John Greaves, rector of Colemore, Hampshire. He was born at Croydon, Surrey, in 1608. His brothers were John Greaves, Nicholas Greaves and Thomas Greaves. He studied at Oxford University, and was elected a fellow of...
, physician to Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
.
His father ran a school for sons of the neighbouring gentry, where Greaves began his education. Aged 15, he went to Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College , founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England but founded by a family with strong Scottish connections....
between 1617–1621, gaining a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree. In 1624 he was the first of five newly-elected Fellows of Merton College, becoming M.A. in 1628. He began to study astronomy and oriental languages, and especially the works of the ancient eastern astronomers. In 1630 Greaves was chosen professor of geometry
Geometry
Geometry arose as the field of knowledge dealing with spatial relationships. Geometry was one of the two fields of pre-modern mathematics, the other being the study of numbers ....
at Gresham College, London. Through his predecessor, Peter Turner, he later met archbishop
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
William Laud
William Laud
William Laud was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1633 to 1645. One of the High Church Caroline divines, he opposed radical forms of Puritanism...
, the chancellor of Oxford University and Visitor (patron) of Merton College. Laud was keen to make English editions of Greek and Arabic authors, and Greaves' later travels abroad involved collecting manuscripts and books for presentation to his new patron.
Greaves enrolled at University of Leyden in 1633, where he became friends with Jacob Golius, professor of Arabic at Leyden. He enrolled at the University of Padua
University of Padua
The University of Padua is a premier Italian university located in the city of Padua, Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 as a school of law and was one of the most prominent universities in early modern Europe. It is among the earliest universities of the world and the second...
in 1635 along with George Ent
George Ent
George Ent was an English scientist in the seventeenth century who focused on the study of anatomy. He was a member of the Royal Society and the Royal College of Physicians...
, meeting the Dane Johan Rode (John Rhodius), an expert on ancient weights and measures, who also made a commentary on Celsus
Celsus
Celsus was a 2nd century Greek philosopher and opponent of Early Christianity. He is known for his literary work, The True Word , written about by Origen. This work, c. 177 is the earliest known comprehensive attack on Christianity.According to Origen, Celsus was the author of an...
. A brief return to England was followed by a second European journey; in 1636 he sailed via Livorno
Livorno
Livorno , traditionally Leghorn , is a port city on the Tyrrhenian Sea on the western edge of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of approximately 160,000 residents in 2009.- History :...
(Leghorn) to Rome, dining with Ent on 5 October at the English College, Rome; he also met William Harvey
William Harvey
William Harvey was an English physician who was the first person to describe completely and in detail the systemic circulation and properties of blood being pumped to the body by the heart...
, who was entertained at the College on the 12th, Gasparo Berti
Gasparo Berti
Gasparo Berti was an Italian mathematician, astronomer and physicist. He was probably born in Mantua and spent most of his life in Rome. He is most famous today for his experiment in which he unknowingly created the first working barometer...
, Lucas Holstenius
Lucas Holstenius
Lucas Holstenius was the Latinized name of Lukas Holste , German Catholic humanist, geographer and historian.-Life:...
and Athanasius Kircher
Athanasius Kircher
Athanasius Kircher was a 17th century German Jesuit scholar who published around 40 works, most notably in the fields of oriental studies, geology, and medicine...
. Probably in the same month he met and consulted with the Earl of Arundel
Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel
Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel KG, was a prominent English courtier during the reigns of King James I and King Charles I, but he made his name as a Grand Tourist and art collector rather than as a politician. When he died he possessed 700 paintings, along with large collections of sculpture,...
's art-collecting agent, William Petty (who dined at the College on 14 October), on the Earl's attempted acquisition of the Obelisk of Domitian, then still lying broken in the Circus of Maxentius
Circus of Maxentius
The Circus of Maxentius is an ancient structure in Rome, Italy; it is part of a complex of buildings erected by emperor Maxentius on the Via Appia between AD 306 and 312...
. Though 'now it is broken into 5 stones' he measured these and including a sketch of the obelisk as hypothetically repaired in his almanac-notebook (Bodleian Library Savile MS 49,1). Though Arundel paid a 60 crown deposit for the obelisk, pope Urban VIII
Pope Urban VIII
Pope Urban VIII , born Maffeo Barberini, was pope from 1623 to 1644. He was the last pope to expand the papal territory by force of arms, and was a prominent patron of the arts and reformer of Church missions...
vetoed its export and it was erected by his successor Innocent X
Pope Innocent X
Pope Innocent X , born Giovanni Battista Pamphilj , was Pope from 1644 to 1655. Born in Rome of a family from Gubbio in Umbria who had come to Rome during the pontificate of Pope Innocent IX, he graduated from the Collegio Romano and followed a conventional cursus honorum, following his uncle...
above Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers in the Piazza Navona
Piazza Navona
Piazza Navona is a city square in Rome, Italy. It is built on the site of the Stadium of Domitian, built in 1st century AD, and follows the form of the open space of the stadium. The ancient Romans came there to watch the agones , and hence it was known as 'Circus Agonalis'...
.
Greaves toured the Catacombs
Catacombs
Catacombs, human-made subterranean passageways for religious practice. Any chamber used as a burial place can be described as a catacomb, although the word is most commonly associated with the Roman empire...
and made drawings of the Pantheon
Pantheon, Rome
The Pantheon ,Rarely Pantheum. This appears in Pliny's Natural History in describing this edifice: Agrippae Pantheum decoravit Diogenes Atheniensis; in columnis templi eius Caryatides probantur inter pauca operum, sicut in fastigio posita signa, sed propter altitudinem loci minus celebrata.from ,...
and Pyramid of Cestius
Pyramid of Cestius
The Pyramid of Cestius is an ancient pyramid in Rome, Italy, near the Porta San Paolo and the Protestant Cemetery. It stands at a fork between two ancient roads, the Via Ostiensis and another road that ran west to the Tiber along the approximate line of the modern Via della Marmorata...
. During his stay in Rome he instituted inquiries into the ancient weights and measures that are among the early classics of metrology
Metrology
Metrology is the science of measurement. Metrology includes all theoretical and practical aspects of measurement. The word comes from Greek μέτρον , "measure" + "λόγος" , amongst others meaning "speech, oration, discourse, quote, study, calculation, reason"...
.
In 1637 he made a journey to the Levant
Levant
The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...
, one (unfulfilled) intention being to fix the latitude
Latitude
In geography, the latitude of a location on the Earth is the angular distance of that location south or north of the Equator. The latitude is an angle, and is usually measured in degrees . The equator has a latitude of 0°, the North pole has a latitude of 90° north , and the South pole has a...
of Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
where Ptolemy
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
had made his astronomical observations. He sailed from England to Livorno in the company of Edward Pococke
Edward Pococke
Edward Pococke was an English Orientalist and biblical scholar.-Early life:He was the son of clergyman from Chieveley in Berkshire, and was educated at Lord Williams's School of Thame in Oxfordshire and at Corpus Christi College, Oxford...
; after a brief visit to Rome, he arrived in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
(Constantinople) around April 1638. There he made the acquaintance of the English ambassador Sir Peter Wyche
Peter Wyche (Ambassador)
Sir Peter Wyche was a London merchant and English Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1627-1641.-Career:Sir Peter was the sixth son of Richard Wyche and Elizabeth Saltonstall, daughter of Sir Richard Saltonstall , Lord Mayor of London.He was knighted by King Charles I on 16 December 1626...
. He procured various manuscripts there, including a copy of Ptolemy
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
's Almagest
Almagest
The Almagest is a 2nd-century mathematical and astronomical treatise on the apparent motions of the stars and planetary paths. Written in Greek by Claudius Ptolemy, a Roman era scholar of Egypt,...
("the fairest work I ever saw"). Greaves ended up owning two copies of the Almagest. He was going to have visited the many monastic libraries at Mount Athos
Mount Athos
Mount Athos is a mountain and peninsula in Macedonia, Greece. A World Heritage Site, it is home to 20 Eastern Orthodox monasteries and forms a self-governed monastic state within the sovereignty of the Hellenic Republic. Spiritually, Mount Athos comes under the direct jurisdiction of the...
, in order to make a catalogue of their MSS and unprinted books. Athos was normally open only to members of the Orthodox church, but thanks to a special dispensation from the Patriarch of Constantinople
Patriarch of Constantinople
The Ecumenical Patriarch is the Archbishop of Constantinople – New Rome – ranking as primus inter pares in the Eastern Orthodox communion, which is seen by followers as the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church....
Cyril Lucaris
Cyril Lucaris
Cyril Lucaris born Constantine Lukaris or Loucaris was a Greek prelate and theologian, and a native of Candia, Crete . He later became the Greek Patriarch of Alexandria as Cyril III and Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople as Cyril I...
, Greaves would have had access; but the execution of the patriarch by strangulation in June 1638 for treason against Sultan Murad IV
Murad IV
Murad IV Ghazi was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1623 to 1640, known both for restoring the authority of the state and for the brutality of his methods...
prevented his journey.
Instead, Greaves continued on to Alexandria, where he collected a number of Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
, Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
and Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
manuscripts. He was an inveterate note-taker, making countless observations in notebooks and on blank pages of other books he bought; he also visited Cairo twice, and made a more accurate survey of the pyramids of Egypt
Egyptian pyramids
The Egyptian pyramids are ancient pyramid-shaped masonry structures located in Egypt.There are 138 pyramids discovered in Egypt as of 2008. Most were built as tombs for the country's Pharaohs and their consorts during the Old and Middle Kingdom periods.The earliest known Egyptian pyramids are found...
than any traveller who had preceded him. He returned to England in 1640.
On the death of John Bainbridge in 1643, Greaves was appointed as Savilian professor of astronomy and senior reader of the Linacre
Thomas Linacre
Thomas Linacre was a humanist scholar and physician, after whom Linacre College, Oxford and Linacre House The King's School, Canterbury are named....
lecture at Oxford; but he was deprived of his Gresham professorship for having neglected its duties. In 1645 he essayed a reformation of the calendar
Calendar
A calendar is a system of organizing days for social, religious, commercial, or administrative purposes. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months, and years. The name given to each day is known as a date. Periods in a calendar are usually, though not...
; but although his plan (of omitting the bissextile day for the next 40 years) was approved by the king, the matter was dropped owing to the turbulent times
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
.
Ejection from Oxford
In 1642 Greaves had been elected subwarden of Merton College. Merton was the only Oxford college to side with the Parliamentarians in the English Civil WarEnglish Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
, through an earlier dispute in 1638 between Nathaniel Brent
Nathaniel Brent
-Life:He was the son of Anchor Brent of Little Wolford, Warwickshire, where he was born about 1573. He became 'portionist,' or postmaster, of Merton College, Oxford, in 1589; proceeded B.A. on 20 June 1593; was admitted probationer fellow there in 1594, and took the degree of M.A. on 31 October 1598...
, the Warden of Merton, and Greaves' patron William Laud
William Laud
William Laud was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1633 to 1645. One of the High Church Caroline divines, he opposed radical forms of Puritanism...
. Brent had been a hostile witness at Laud's 1644 trial. After Laud was executed on 10 January 1645, Greaves drew up a petition for Brent's removal from office; Brent was deposed by Charles I on 27 January.
However, in 1647 a parliamentary commission (visitation) was set up by Parliament "for the correction of offences, abuses, and disorders" in the University of Oxford. Nathaniel Brent was the president of the visitors. After Thomas Fairfax had captured Oxford for the Parliamentarians in 1648 and Brent had returned from London, Greaves was accused of sequestrating the college's plate and funds for king Charles
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
. Despite a deposition from his brother Thomas
Thomas Greaves (orientalist)
Thomas Greaves was an English orientalist, a contributor to the London Polyglot of Brian Walton.-Life:He was a son of the Rev. John Greaves of Colemore, Hampshire, and brother of John Greaves, Nicholas Greaves and of Sir Edward Greaves...
, Greaves had lost both his Merton fellowship and his Savilian chair by 9 November 1648. Many of his books and MSS disappeared after his rooms were rifled by soldiers, although his friend John Selden
John Selden
John Selden was an English jurist and a scholar of England's ancient laws and constitution and scholar of Jewish law...
managed to recover some of them. However, Greaves was not actually deprived of the professorship until August 1649. He was succeeded as Savilian Professor of Astronomy in that year by Seth Ward, who ensured that Greaves was paid the arrears (£500) of his salary; Greaves was unlikely to have got his money, since the Savilian professors were paid from the income of lands held in Kent and Essex, which were under control of Parliament (rather than the king). Ward also gave over a considerable amount of his own salary to Greaves.
But Greaves' private fortune more than sufficed for all his wants till his death; he retired to London, married and occupied his leisure writing and editing books and manuscripts. He died in London aged 50, and was buried in the church of St Benet Sherehog
St Benet Sherehog
St Benet Sherehog, additionally dedicated to St Osyth, was a medieval church built before the year 1111, situated at No. 1 Poultry in Cordwainer Ward, in the then wool-dealing district of the City of London. It was one of the 86 churches destroyed in the Great Fire of London, and it was not...
, which was destroyed during the Great Fire of London
Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City Wall...
.
His brother Nicholas Greaves
Nicholas Greaves
Nicholas Greaves, D.D. was an English churchman who was Dean of Dromore cathedral, County Down.-Life:He was the second son of John Greaves, rector of Colemore, near Alresford, Hampshire. His brothers were John Greaves, Sir Edward Greaves and Thomas Greaves.He studied as a commoner at St. Mary's...
was his executor. He left his cabinet containing his coin collection to Sir John Marsham
Sir John Marsham, 1st Baronet
Sir John Marsham, 1st Baronet was an English antiquary known as a writer on chronology, and also a chancery clerk and politician. He was a Member of Parliament for Rochester from 1660 to 1661.-Life:...
, and his astronomical instruments to the Savilian library, now part of the Bodleian Library
Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Library , the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library...
. Two of his astrolabes (inscribed by his brother Nicholas) are in the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford. (see External links)
Works
Besides his papers in the Philosophical Transactions, the principal works of Greaves are:- Pyramidographia, or a Description of the Pyramids in Ægypt (1646)
- A Discourse on the Roman Foot and Denarius (1647)
- Elementa Linguae Persicae (1649)
The first two were reprinted (together with a biographical notice of the author) as part of Miscellaneous works of Mr. John Greaves. This also contains a reprint of
- Withers, Robert (ed. John Greaves) A Description of the Grand Signour’s Seraglio; or Turkish Emperours Court (1653) London: Printed for Jo. Ridley, at the Castle in Fleet-street by Ram-Alley.
Translations:
- Chorasmiae et Mawaralnahrae, etc. (1650). A description of KhwarezmKhwarezmKhwarezm, or Chorasmia, is a large oasis region on the Amu Darya river delta in western Central Asia, which borders to the north the Aral Sea, to the east the Kyzylkum desert, to the south the Karakum desert and to the west the Ustyurt Plateau...
and Mawarannahr (TransoxianaTransoxianaTransoxiana is the ancient name used for the portion of Central Asia corresponding approximately with modern-day Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, southern Kyrgystan and southwest Kazakhstan. Geographically, it is the region between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers...
) translated from the Arabic of Abu'l-FidaAbu'l-FidaAbu al-Fida or Abul Fida Ismail Hamvi was a Kurdish historian, geographer, and local sultan...
, with tables of latitude and longitude for the principal towns. - Abulfedae Peninsulam Arabum. This is an edited translation of part of Abu'l-FidaAbu'l-FidaAbu al-Fida or Abul Fida Ismail Hamvi was a Kurdish historian, geographer, and local sultan...
's History. - Binae Tabulae Geographicae, two tables of latitude and longitude translated from the Persian of Nasir al-Din al-TusiNasir al-Din al-TusiKhawaja Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan Ṭūsī , better known as Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī , was a Persian polymath and prolific writer: an astronomer, biologist, chemist, mathematician, philosopher, physician, physicist, scientist, theologian and Marja Taqleed...
and Ulugh BegUlugh BegUlugh Bek was a Timurid ruler as well as an astronomer, mathematician and sultan. His commonly-known name is not truly a personal name, but rather a moniker, which can be loosely translated as "Great Ruler" or "Patriarch Ruler" and was the Turkic equivalent of Timur's Perso-Arabic title Amīr-e...
These three works appeared in Hudson, John (1712): Geographiae Veteris Scriptores Graeci Minores Vol. III, Oxon. (in Latin)
- Lemmata Archimedis, apud Graecos et Latinos iam pridem desiderata, e vetusto codice manuscripto Arabico... This is a translation of part of Nasir al-Din al-TusiNasir al-Din al-TusiKhawaja Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan Ṭūsī , better known as Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī , was a Persian polymath and prolific writer: an astronomer, biologist, chemist, mathematician, philosopher, physician, physicist, scientist, theologian and Marja Taqleed...
's edition of the so-called Middle Books. Greaves' unpublished MS was revised and amended by Samuel FosterSamuel FosterSamuel Foster was an English mathematician and astronomer. He made several observations of eclipses, both of the sun and moon, at Gresham College and in other places; and he was known particularly for inventing and improving planetary instruments...
and appeared posthumously in 1659.
The following work is probably not by John Greaves:
- The origin and antiquity of our English weights and measures discover'd... (1745 edition) London: Printed for G. Sawbridge. This book, printed in 1706 and again in 1727 and 1745, discusses Greaves' findings and measurements, but is probably the work of someone else.
See also
- List of Gresham Professors of GeometryGresham Professor of GeometryThe Professor of Geometry at Gresham College, London, gives free educational lectures to the general public. The college was founded for this purpose in 1596 / 7, when it appointed seven professors; this has since increased to eight and in addition the college now has visiting professors.The...
- Pyramid inchPyramid inchThe pyramid inch is a unit of measure claimed by pyramidologists to have been used in ancient times. Supposedly it was one twenty-fifth of a "sacred cubit", 1.00106 imperial inches, or 2.5426924 centimetres.-History:...
External links
- Measurer of all things: John Greaves – The great Pyramid and early Modern Metrology by Zur Shalev
- Astrolabe belonging to John Greaves, inscribed by Nicholas GreavesNicholas GreavesNicholas Greaves, D.D. was an English churchman who was Dean of Dromore cathedral, County Down.-Life:He was the second son of John Greaves, rector of Colemore, near Alresford, Hampshire. His brothers were John Greaves, Sir Edward Greaves and Thomas Greaves.He studied as a commoner at St. Mary's...
. - Large astrolabe originally made for Queen Elizabeth I, Museum of the History of Science, OxfordOxfordThe city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...