Heraclides Ponticus & Promontorium Heraclides - San Jose, CA
Posted by: Metro2
N 37° 20.008 W 121° 55.376
10S E 595414 N 4132409
Herakleides, aka as Heraclides Ponticus was a Greek philosopher and astronomer.
Waymark Code: WMN520
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 12/27/2014
Views: 1
This sculpture is located in San Jose's Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum.
It is made from limestone and is dated c. 100 AD.
It depicts the Greek philosopher Herakleides as a middle-aged amn wearinf a toga. He has close-cropped hair and a serious countenance. The work is much smaller than life-sized..probably just about 2 feet tall. There is no artist mentioned.
Wikipedia (
visit link) adds:
"Heraclides Ponticus ... 390 BC – c. 310 BC), also known as Herakleides and Heraklides of Pontus, was a Greek philosopher and astronomer who lived and died at Heraclea Pontica, now Karadeniz Eregli, Turkey. He is best remembered for proposing that the earth rotates on its axis, from west to east, once every 24 hours. He is also frequently hailed as the originator of the heliocentric theory, although this is doubted....
...Heraclides seems to have been a versatile and prolific writer on philosophy, mathematics, music, grammar, physics, history and rhetoric, notwithstanding doubts about attribution of many of the works. It appears that he composed various works in dialogue form."
As for the Promontorium, Wikipedia (
visit link) adds:
"Promontorium Heraclides is a raised mountainous cape situated in Mare Imbrium on the near side of the Moon. Its selenographic coordinates are 40.3° N, 33.2° W and it is 50 km in diameter. It marks the western edge of the bay of Sinus Iridum.
Promontorium Heraclides is named after Heraclides Ponticus, a Greek philosopher and astronomer. The Soviet lunar probe Luna 17 landed about 30 km from Promontorium Heraclides on November 17, 1970."