The author of this work is an unknown figure from Late Antiquity, a period spanning roughly the 4th to the 6th century CE. This era saw the preservation and teaching of earlier Greek scientific knowledge. The anonymous writer was likely a scholar or teacher working within the tradition of Greek mathematical astronomy, possibly based in the Eastern Mediterranean.

This author is credited with a single, fragmentary treatise on astronomy. The work survives in only one known manuscript. It focuses on the construction and use of an astronomical instrument, probably an astrolabe or a similar device, and explains the calculations related to it. Modern scholars classify it as a practical guide to instrumental astronomy from the Byzantine period.

The treatise is significant because it shows how Greek astronomy was practiced and continued after the classical era. It provides direct evidence that the sophisticated theories of astronomers like Ptolemy were not just studied but were also applied through hands-on instruments. According to scholars, this practical text helps illustrate the technical knowledge that served as a crucial link between ancient Greek science and the astronomical traditions of the later Byzantine and Islamic worlds. Its survival in a single copy underscores how fragile this type of specialized technical literature could be.