A History of Brewing in Holland, 900-1900

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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> Advanced Search> A History of Brewing in Holland, 900-1900

A History of Brewing in Holland, 900-1900

Economy, Technology and the State

Richard W. Unger

Reference Works

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Publication year: 2001


ISBN-13 (i)The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) has been changed from 10 to 13 digits on 1 January 2007:	978 90 04 12037 2
ISBN-10:	90 04 12037 8

Cover:	Hardback
Number of pages:	xxii, 428 pp. 40 illus.
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List price:	€ 196.00 / US$ 279.00

Readership

All those interested in economic history, the history of technology, business history, and the history of the Netherlands, as well as those concerned with the history of alcohol and regulation of its consumption.

About the author(s)

Richard W. Unger, Ph.D. (1971) in History, Yale University, is Professor of History at the University of British Columbia. He has published extensively on Dutch economic history, the history of technology and medieval maritime history.

This book offers a comprehensive history of brewing in Holland from the beginnings of large scale production at the end of the first millennium through medieval expansion, the boom of the Renaissance, and the disastrous decline of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It closes with the revival of the industry in the era of industrialization.
Major technical innovations, from Germany, in the fourteenth and again in the nineteenth century, made it possible for brewing to take a leading role in the Dutch economy. The adaptation of those improvements went on always under the careful supervision of the state.
Relying on the extensive records of urban and provincial governments the author traces the cooperation as well as tension between brewers and public authorities spanning one thousand years.

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