Comparing Religions

(0)

[i]

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.

Close

Publications & Services> Advanced Search> Comparing Religions

Comparing Religions

Possibilities and Perils?

Edited by Thomas Athanasius Idinopulos, Brian C. Wilson and James Constantine Hanges

Books

Available
Publication year: 2006


Series:	Numen Book Series, 113
ISBN-13 (i)The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) has been changed from 10 to 13 digits on 1 January 2007:	978 90 04 15267 0
ISBN-10:	90 04 15267 9

Cover:	Hardback
Number of pages:	xviii, 326 pp.

List price:	€ 93.00 / US$ 138.00

About the author(s)

Thomas Athanasius Idinopulos Ph.D. University of Chicago, 1965, is currently working as Professor of Comparative Religion at Miami University, Oxford, OH. His most recent books include Weathered by Miracles : a History of Palestine from Bonaparte and Muhammad Ali to Ben-Gurion and the Mufti (Chicago: (Ivan R. Dee, 1998 ), Jerusalem: A History of the Holiest City as Seen Through the Struggles of Jews, Christians, and Muslims (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, Publisher, 1994).
Brian C. Wilson, Ph.D. (1996) in Religious Studies from UC Santa Barbara, is Professor and Chair of Comparative Religion at Western Michigan University. His most recent book is Religion as Human Capacity (Brill, 2004), co-edited with Timothy Light. He is currently working on a project focusing on the proper role and structure of a religious studies curriculum within a program of liberal education. Ph.D. University of Chicago, 1999
James Constantine Hanges is Associate Professor of Comparative Religion at Miami University, Oxford, OH. His publications include Christ, the Image of the Church: The Construction of a New Cosmology and the Rise of Christianity (Aurora, CO: The Davies Group Publishers, 2006). He is currently working on the manuscript, The Creation of Paul’s Damascus Road Christophany, a comparative, historical-critical, and sociological examination of Paul’s Damascus road encounter with the risen Christ in the Acts of the Apostles as a literary creation based on the epiphanies distinctive of the common form of Greek cult foundation-legends.

Given the fact that today’s university students are far more culturally sophisticated than ever before, Comparing Religions: Possibilities and Perils brings together a distinguished group of professors of religion with years of teaching experience to address the central question of how comparison of religions should be pursued in today’s classroom. Covering topics such as recent theoretical approaches to comparison, case studies of comparing religions in the classroom, and the impact of postcolonialism and postmodernism on the modernist assumptions of comparitivism, the volume seeks to problematize and interrogate the field, especially as it relates to emerging models of pedagogy at the university level. Comparing Religions will be of special interest to those who teach in religious studies departments, or who teach courses on religion in departments of anthropology, sociology, and history.

	Print Version
	Recommendation