From the book
Stobaeus, Volume I
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordDiametros is a line across a circular or spherical figure through its center.
- In StobaeusThe line imagined between the poles is called the axis and described as a diameter of the cosmos.
- In this edition“Diameter” is exact here.
- A place to beginThe pole-to-pole axis is also a diameter through the earth’s central position.
- English renderings
- diameter
Meaning
Diametros is a line across a circular or spherical figure through its center. Its endpoints and central relation matter in the celestial example.
Use in the book
The line imagined between the poles is called the axis and described as a diameter of the cosmos. Earth occupies its middle. The terms express related but different features: diameter concerns the line’s geometry, while axis concerns the rotation organized about it.
Places to read
Translation in this edition
“Diameter” is exact here. Do not translate axis and diameter as though they were interchangeable in every geometrical context.
Diametrical alignment
Kata diametron can describe alignment across a diameter. In the solar-eclipse account at I.25.4.4 it places the moon directly beneath the sun so as to intercept its rays. Calling this simply “opposition” could mislead readers into thinking of the modern sun–moon configuration at full moon, which is not the solar-eclipse arrangement described.
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume I, printed pp. 213, 256. The diameter belongs to the spherical, geocentric description presented in the source.