Method in Unit Delimitation

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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
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Publications & Services> Reference Works> Reference work> Method in Unit Delimitation

Method in Unit Delimitation

Edited by Marjo C.A. Korpel, Josef M. Oesch & Stanley E. Porter

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Publication year: 2007


Series:	Pericope, 6
ISBN-13 (i)The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) has been changed from 10 to 13 digits on 1 January 2007:	978 90 04 16567 0
ISBN-10:	90 04 16567 3

Cover:	Hardback
Number of pages:	viii, 232 pp.
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List price:	€ 82.00 / US$ 115.00

About the author(s)

Marjo C.A. Korpel, D.D. (1990), Theological University of Kampen, is Associate Professor of Old Testament at Utrecht University. Her publications concern Ugaritic and Israelite religion, as well as Old Testament exegesis, with special attention to unit delimitation. Among her books are A Rift in the Clouds: Ugaritic and Hebrew Descriptions of the Divine (Ugarit-Verlag, 1990), The Structure of Classical Hebrew Poetry: Isaiah 40-55 (Brill, 1998; with J.C. de Moor) and The Structure of the Book of Ruth (Van Gorcum, 2002).

Josef M. Oesch, Ph.D. (1977), Theological Faculty of Innsbruck University is Associate Professor in Biblical Studies at the University of Innsbruck (Austria). He has published in Old Testament and related subjects, especially in delimitation criticism. He also edited with M.C.A. Korpel the first volumes of the Pericope series. He is director of the project Biblical Literature Documented in Innsbruck (BILDI) and of the project Hebrew Manuscripts and Fragments in Austrian Libraries.

Stanley E. Porter, Ph.D. (1988) in Biblical Studies and Linguistics, the University of Sheffield, is President, Dean and Professor of New Testament at McMaster Divinity College, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He has published extensively in New Testament and related subjects. He has also edited the first three volumes in the Pauline Studies series, The Pauline Canon (Brill, 2004), Paul and His Opponents (Brill, 2005), and Paul and His Theology (Brill, 2006).

In this volume selected papers from several Pericope meetings have been combined into a thematic volume, dealing with the method of unit delimitation. A hitherto unnoticed Tibero-Palestinian manuscript from Paris is discussed, as well as the text divisions in the Leviticus and Joshua Codices from the Schoyen collection and a fifth-century lectionary. The volume closes with a proposal for a new polyglot Bible, containing data with regard to unit delimitation from our traditions, Hebrew, Greek, Syriac and Latin.

The Pericope Series aims at making available data on unit delimitation found in biblical and related manuscripts to the scholarly world and provides a platform for evaluating this hitherto largely neglected evidence for the benefit of biblical interpretation.

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Pericope