Like his predecessor Berossos, Sudines moved from Babylonia and established himself among the Greeks; he was an advisor to King Attalus I (Attalos Soter) of Pergamon.
He is said (e.g., by Roman astronomer/astrologer Vettius Valens) to have published tables to compute the motion of the Moon; said to have been used by the Greeks, until superseded by the work of Hipparchus and later by Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolemaios).
Hipparchus, a foundational figure in Greek astronomy whose work became the basis for Ptolemy's Almagest, is credited as authoring a solar table that has not survived and has been the topic of much speculation.
Neugebauer lists Sudines' solar year length as 365 1/4 γ' ε',[5] which Rochberg interprets as 365 + 1/4 + 1/3 + 1/5, a value that she describes as making no astronomical sense.
[2] Valens references Sudines as a table author immediately after describing various values of year lengths, including two attributed separately to the Chaldeans and the Babylonians (Anthologies 9.12).
In a 3rd century CE papyrus fragment containing a summary of a commentary on Plato's Timaeus, the Stoic philosopher Posidonius is listed as crediting Sudines with describing the planet Venus as the destroyer of women.
Sudines is referenced in Greek and Latin texts as an expert on three topics: astrological knowledge, liver divination (hepatoscopy), and properties of stones and gems.
"[9] Onychem in Arabiae tantum montibus nec usquam aliubi nasci putavere nostri veteres, Sudines in Carmania.
[10] hoc mirum quod Xenocrates Ephesius tradit, aratro in Asia et Cypro excitari; non enim reperiri in terreno nec nisi inter cautes creditum fuerat.
"The surprising remark is made by Xenocrates of Ephesus that in Asia Minor and Cyprus rock-crystal is turned up by the plough, for previously it was not thought to occur in soil, but only amidst rocks.
[10] Demostratus lyncurium vocat et fieri ex urina lyncum bestiarum, e maribus fulvum et igneum, e feminis languidius atque candidum; alios id dicere langurium et esse in Italia bestias languros.
Zenothemis langas vocat easdem et circa Padum iis vitam adsignat, Sudines arborem, quae gignat in Liguria, vocari lynca.
'"[11] Sudines dicit in gemma esse candorem unguis humani similitudine, item chrysolithi colorem et sardae et iaspidis, Zenothemis Indicam onychem plures habere varietates, igneam, nigram, corneam, cingentibus candidis venis oculi modo, intervenientibus quarundam et obliquis venis.
"Sudines states that in onyx one finds a white band resembling a human fingernail, as well as the colour of the 'chrysolith,' the sard and the iaspis, while Zenothemis mentions that the Indian onyx has several different colours, fiery red, black and that of horn, surrounded by a white layer as in an eye, and in some cases traversed by a slanting layer."