Cicero in the Late-Medieval Tractatus Nauticus

Abstract

Allusions to Cicero in the late-medieval tractatus nauticus. The Middle Ages is presented as far removed from the development of the sciences, focusing instead on religious aspects. One of the disciplines that had been turning into a science through the Classical World and the Middle Ages was navigation. Numerous tractatus nautici, written towards the end of the Middle Ages, have survived. These attempt to describe systems and navigational techniques based not only on mathematics and astronomy, but also on philosophy. The philosophy of Cicero’s is a recurrent question in these works.