The Fall of the Angels

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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
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The Fall of the Angels

Edited by Christoph Auffarth and Loren T. Stuckenbruck assisted by Alexandra Wisniewski

Books

Available
Publication year: 2004


Series:	Themes in Biblical Narrative, 6
ISBN-13 (i)The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) has been changed from 10 to 13 digits on 1 January 2007:	978 90 04 12668 8
ISBN-10:	90 04 12668 6

Cover:	Hardback
Number of pages:	x, 302 pp. 12 illus.

List price:	€ 89.00 / US$ 132.00

Table of contents

Christoph Auffarth / Loren T. Stuckenbruck, Introduction
Ronald Hendel, The Nephilim were on the Earth: Genesis 6: 1-4 and its Ancient Near Eastern Context
Jan N. Bremmer, Remember the Titans!
Matthias Albani, The Downfall of Helel, the Son of Dawn: Aspects of Royal Ideology in Isa 14:12-13
Loren T. Stuckenbruck, The Origins of Evil in Jewish Apocalyptic Tradition: The Interpretation of Genesis 6:1-4 in the Second and Third Centuries BCE
Hermann Lichtenberger, The Down-throw of the Dragon in Revelation 12 and the Down-fall of God’s Enemy
Gerard P. Luttikhuizen, The Demonic Demiurge in Gnostic Mythology
Bärbel Beinhauer-Köhler, Die Engelsturzmotive des Umm al-Kitāb. Untersuchungen zur Trägerschaft eines synkretistischen Werkes der häretischen Schia
Bernd-Ulrich Hergemöller, Black Sabbath Masses: Fictitious and Real Inquisitions
Christoph Auffarth, Angels on Earth und Forgers in Heaven: A Debate in the High Middle Ages Concerning Their Fall and Ascension
Prof. Dr. Burkhard Gladigow, Zur narrative Plausibilität des Bösen
Eilert Herms, Das Böse. Systematische Überlegungen im Horizont des christlichen Wirklichkeitsverständnisses
Christoph Auffarth, The Invisible Made Visible: Glimpses of an Iconography of the Fall of Angels

About the author(s)

Christoph Auffarth is Professor of Comparative Religion at Bremen University, Germany. His main fields are religions in Antiquity, especially Greek Religions and the Encounter of Religions in the Middle Ages (Crusades, Dialogues, Heresies).
Loren T. Stuckenbruck, is the B.F. Westcott Professor of Biblical Studies at University of Durham, UK. He has published extensively on the fallen angels tradition in Early Judaism, the Dead Sea Scrolls and New Testament literature.

The fall of the angels is one of the biblical narratives which, above all in the history of the bible’s reception, have developed an extraordinary effect: In the biblical canon they appear just as hints (Gen. 6; Isaiah 14; Apocalypse 12). Little concern for the text as well as a tradition and reception not covered by the canon makes the narrative grow and change considerably, as well as freely negotiate in the popular media of iconography, liturgy and theatre. As a completed narrative the fall of the angels appears only in the literature of the apocalyptic movement. The so-called Henoch tradition provides revelations about the cosmos and the secrets of Heaven and Earth. Through this mystery our present world is coded as a battle between good and evil.

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