Baltic Connections (3 vols.)

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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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Baltic Connections (3 vols.)

Archival Guide to the Maritime Relations of the Countries around the Baltic Sea (including the Netherlands) 1450-1800

Edited by Lennart Bes, Edda Frankot and Hanno Brand

Books

Available
Publication year: 2007


Series:	The Northern World, 36
ISBN-13 (i)The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) has been changed from 10 to 13 digits on 1 January 2007:	978 90 04 16429 1
ISBN-10:	90 04 16429 4

Cover:	Hardback
Number of pages:	vol 1: xxxvi, 788 pp; vol 2: xxvi, 822 pp; vol 3
Number of volumes:	3

List price:	€ 315.00 / US$ 467.00

Reviews

' It is a real treasure trove, and should be welcomed by scholars across the world. Some of the national entries, for example, Estonia and Latvia, are truly ground-breaking, since they reveal a wealth of material hitherto either scattered to the four winds or left to sit in dusty cupboards'
David Kirby (University College, London)
'an extremely useful guide for all those wishing to prepare for archival research into the 'Baltic connections'in any of the ten countries included.'
Louis Sicking, International Journal of Maritime History, XXI,1 (June 2009), 365-6

Readership

All those studying the maritime, economic and diplomatic relations between the countries around the Baltic Sea (including the Netherlands) in the late Middle Ages and the Early Modern period.

About the author(s)

Lennart Bes, M.A. in Indology, Leiden University, is employed at the National Archives of the Netherlands. He has published on South Indian history and the archives of the Dutch East India Company, including two archival guides to Dutch sources on South Asia.
Edda Frankot, Ph.D. (2004) in History and Law, University of Aberdeen, is a researcher at the Hanse Research Centre of the University of Groningen. She specialises in maritime, legal and urban history of Northern Europe in the Later Middle Ages.
Hanno Brand, Ph.D. (1996) in Medieval History, is a fellow at the Hanse Research Centre at Groningen University. He has published extensively on Leiden's urban elites, aspects of Urban History, the Burgundian Court (1419-1477) and on the relations between the Low Countries and the German Hanse.

In the late Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, Northern Europe was a crucible of political, maritime and economic activity. Ships from ports all around the Baltic Sea as well as from the Low Countries plied the Baltic waters, triggering market integration, migration flows, nautical innovations and the dissemination of cultural values. This archival guide is an essential research tool for scholars studying these Baltic connections, providing descriptions of almost 1000 archival collections concerning trade, shipping, merchants, commodities, diplomacy, finances and migration in the years 1450-1800. These rich and varied sources kept at more than 100 repositories in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia and Sweden are herewith collected for the first time.

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