Theios Sophistès

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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> Books> Book Series> Theios Sophistès

Theios Sophistès

Essays on Flavius Philostratus' Vita Apollonii

edited by Kristoffel Demoen and Danny Praet

Books

Available
Publication year: 2009


Series:	Mnemosyne, Supplements, 0
ISBN-13 (i)The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) has been changed from 10 to 13 digits on 1 January 2007:	978 90 04 17109 1
ISBN-10:	90 04 17109 6

Cover:	Hardback
Number of pages:	xvi, 405 pp

List price:	€ 135.00 / US$ 200.00

Reviews

This excellent volume of essays serves as a showcase for how much interesting scholarship can come from viewing the Vita Apollonii [...] as a uniquely interesting text worthy of study in its own right, on a level with more canonical works. Specialists will want to read it thoroughly, and a great many others will find unexpectedly rich results from browsing. Bryn Mawr Classical Review, October 2009.

Readership

Students and scholars interested in the Vita Apollonii, Philostratus, the Second Sophistic, Late Antiquity, Greek literature, the ancient novel, philosophy and religion.

About the author(s)

Kristoffel Demoen, Ph.D. (1993) in Classics, is Professor of Greek Literature at Ghent University. He has published mainly on the interplay between rhetoric, poetry and ideology in Late Antiquity and Byzantium, including Pagan and Biblical Exempla in Gregory Nazianzen (Brepols, 1996).

Danny Praet, Ph.D. in Classics (1997), is Professor of Ancient Philosophy and Early Christianity at Ghent University. He has published mainly on the interplay between religion, philosophy and literature in Late Antiquity. He is currently preparing the edition of the Collected Papers by Franz Cumont.

Flavius Philostratus’ Life of Apollonius of Tyana (Vita Apollonii), written in the first half of the third century CE, is a key text in the cultural, literary and religious history of the Second Sophistic and of Late Antiquity. Its generic and formal diversity, its shifting cultural and historical background, as well as its protean hero, call for a multifaceted and interdisciplinary reading. Theios Sophistès is the first collection of interpretative essays on the Vita Apollonii. Leading scholars in the field and younger critics make for a combination of methodological continuity and innovation. The book is divided into two sections, one focusing on literary and philological discussions and relating the Vita to other ancient texts and genres, and one dealing with religious and philosophical aspects. The wide range of approaches and perspectives does justice to the high level of literary, historical and philosophical-religious sophistication of this text.

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