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The Astrolabe

An ancient instrument for solving problems of location and distance, as well as time

Astrolábon órganon is the word used in Ptolemaeus Syntaxis 5.1 to describe a form of armillary sphere consisting of both fixed and rotating rings for determining the ecliptic co-ordinates of stars. Also called astrolabe were two-dimensional representations of the celestial sphere: over fixed disks with a representation of the horizon of the earth (in each case for a specific geographic latitude) and its parallels up to the zenith lies a rotating representation of the heavens (called ‘spider’ or ‘net’) with zodiac and indicators for some of the brightest stars. On the back is an indicator (‘alidade’) with visor plates for calculating the height of the stars. The astrolabe allows its user to determine the hours of day and night, the positions of stars, and the height and depth of objects on earth (mountains, buildings, wells). The oldest extant descriptions of the flat, planispheric astrolabe come from Iohannes Philoponus, 6th century AD, and (in Syrian) from Severus Sebokht, c. 660 AD. Indirect references may date back as early as Theon (4th cent.). Between the 8th and the 9th centuries the Arabs appropriated the knowledge of the astrolabe. At the end of the 10th century and again in the 12th century, they passed it on to Western Europe, where astrolabes were constructed up until the 17th cent. Today, one Byzantine astrolabe (from 1062) is extant, as are some 750 Arabic-Islamic astrolabes and approximately the same number of European astrolabes.

This information is abstracted from Brill's New Pauly, the English edition of the authoritative Der Neue Pauly, Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. The encyclopaedic coverage and high academic standard of the work, the interdisciplinary and contemporary approach and clear and accessible presentation have made the New Pauly the unrivalled modern reference work for the ancient world. For more information see www.brillsnewpauly.com or visit our website catalog: www.brill.nl/bnp
Brill’s New Pauly and the complete original Der Neue Pauly, the recognized standard reference works for students and scholars of the ancient world are also available online. This dual-language edition offers basic and advanced search facilities and is fully browsable. New English translations are added as they become available. See www.paulyonline.brill.nl for more information and a demo version.

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Brill's New Jacoby:

Editor-in Chief: Ian Worthington (University of Missouri—Columbia).
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New Jacoby Online
Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker (Print)

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Brill’s New Jacoby provides a revised edition of the Greek texts where relevant. It includes several new authors and many fragments of existing authors that were either unknown to Jacoby or were not included by him. It also gives commentaries by leading contemporary historians for those authors omitted by Jacoby.
Brill’s New Jacoby presents facing English translations of the Greek fragments, a new, critical commentary, and a brief encyclopaedia-style entry about each historian’s life and works, with a select and up-to-date bibliography.
Brill’s New Jacoby brings together the specialist knowledge of 112 scholars in 16 countries, representing the highest academic standards.
This completely new edition of “Jacoby” presents the scholar with a fully searchable and indexed online format, which will be updated twice a year. More than 100 historians will be added annually.

Jacoby Online

Brill’s New Jacoby and Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker are available together online as Jacoby Online
Jacoby Online provides the following features:
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