Rabbinic Perspectives: Rabbinic Literature and the Dead Sea Scrolls

(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> Rabbinic Perspectives: Rabbinic Literature and the Dead Sea Scrolls

Rabbinic Perspectives: Rabbinic Literature and the Dead Sea Scrolls

Proceedings of the Eighth International Symposium of the Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature, 7–9 January, 2003

Edited by Steven D. Fraade, Aharon Shemesh and Ruth A. Clements

Books

Available
Publication year: 2006


Series:	Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah, 62
ISBN-13 (i)The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) has been changed from 10 to 13 digits on 1 January 2007:	978 90 04 15335 6
ISBN-10:	90 04 15335 7

Cover:	Cloth with dustjacket
Number of pages:	xii, 212 pp.

List price:	€ 135.00 / US$ 200.00

Reviews

'This collection of these studies in a single volume can serve as a very useful introduction
to the variety of ways in which comparative study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and early
rabbinic literature is being practiced today, but it is much more than that. [...] The result is that virtually anyone concerned with
possible connections between the Qumran scrolls and rabbinic literature will find one or
more of these pieces valuable.' -- Moshe J. Bernstein, Yeshiva University, New York, New York

Readership

Anyone interested in the history, literature, and religion of ancient Judaism, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and early rabbinic Judaism, and, more broadly, the history of religious law and scriptural interpretation.

About the author(s)

Steven D. Fraade, Ph.D. (1980), The University of Pennsylvania, is the Mark Taper Professor of the History of Judaism in the Religious Studies Department and the Judaic Studies Program, Yale University.
Aharon Shemesh, Ph.D. (1984), Bar-Ilan University, is Associate Professor in the Department of Talmud, Bar-Ilan University, and a Fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute, Jerusalem.
Ruth A. Clements, Th.D. (1997), Harvard University Divinity School, is Chief of Publications at the Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The studies in this volume examine the intersection of the Dead Sea Scrolls with early rabbinic literature. This is a particularly rich area for comparative study, which has not heretofore received sufficient scholarly attention. While some of the contributions in this volume focus on specific comparative case studies, others address far-reaching issues of historical and comparative methodology. Particular attention is paid to questions of the nature of sectarian and rabbinic law, and how each may elucidate the other. These studies model the directions that need to be pursued in future scholarship on the lines of continuity and discontinuity that connect and differentiate these two literary corpora and their respective religious cultures and social structures.

	Print Version
	Recommendation