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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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Publications & Services> Journals

The following titles are no longer published by Brill. Please see below for the new publication details.

Journals no longer published after 2008:

• Advanced PowderTechnology. New Publisher: Elsevier: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/717712/description#description

• Research on Chemical Intermediates. New Publisher: Springer: http://www.springer.com/chemistry/journal/11164

Journals no longer published after 2007:

• Computing Letters (after Volume 3): http://www.compulett.org/

• Critical Sociology (after Volume 33) New Publisher: SAGE: http://crs.sagepub.com/

• Historiography East and West (after Volume 2, 2004/2006).

Journals no longer published after 2006:

• Chinese Journal of Geochemistry (after Volume 25). New Publisher: Birkhäuser (Springer): http://www.springer.com/earth+sciences/journal/11631

• Discrete Mathematics and Applications (after Volume 16) New Publisher: De Gruyter: http://www.degruyter.de/journals/dma/detailEn.cfm

• International Law FORUM du droit international and Non-State Actors and International Law merged into: International Community Law Review (from 2006).

• Journal of Computational Mathematics (after Volume 24). New Publisher: Global Science Press: http://www.global-sci.org/jcm/

• Journal of Critical Realism (after Volume 5, 2006) New Publisher: Equinox: http://www.equinoxjournals.com/ojs/index.php/JCR/

• Journal of Inverse and Ill-Posed Problems (after Volume 14) New Publisher: De Gruyter: http://www.degruyter.de/journals/jiip/detailEn.cfm?sel=he

• Journal of Numerical Mathematics (after Volume 14) New Publisher: De Gruyter: http://www.degruyter.de/journals/jnm/detailEn.cfm

• Late Antique Archaeology - discontinued as a journal – now book series. See www.brill.nl/laa for further details.

• Monte Carlo Methods and Applications (after Volume 12) New Publisher: De Gruyter: http://www.degruyter.de/journals/mcma/detail.cfm

• Random Operators and Stochastic Equations (after Volume 14) New Publisher: De Gruyter: http://www.degruyter.de/journals/rose/detailEn.cfm

• Russian Journal of Numerical Analysis and Mathematical Modelling (after Volume 21) New Publisher: De Gruyter: http://www.degruyter.de/journals/rjnamm/detail.cfm

• The Pain Clinic (after Volume 18, 2006) New Publisher: Maney Publishers: http://www.maney.co.uk/search?fwaction=show&fwid=702

Journals no longer published after 2005:

• Biogenic Amines (after Volume 19). New Publisher: Society of Integrated Sciences: http://node.nel.edu/?node_id=2523

• Central European History (after Volume 38) New Publisher: Cambridge University Press: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=ccc

• Critical Horizons (after Volume 6) New Publisher: Acumen Publishing Ltd.: http://www.acumenpublishing.co.uk/journals.asp?TAG=&CID

• Gene Therapy and Regulation (after Volume 3). New Publisher: World Scientific: http://www.worldscinet.com/gtr/gtr.shtml

• Inflammopharmacology (after Volume 13). New Publisher: Birkhäuser (Springer): http://www.springer.com/birkhauser/biosciences/journal/10787

• Journal of Bamboo and Rattan (after Volume 4) New Publisher: Kerala Forestry Research Institute: http://www.kfri.org/html/journal_bamboo_rattan.htm

• Journal of East Asian Archaeology – volumes 6 & 7 (2004 – 2005)

• Journal of Micromechatronics (after Volume 3).

• NIN (after Volume 4).

• Perspectives on European Politics and Society (after Volume 6). New Publisher: Taylor & Francis: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/rpep

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