Social and Political Life in Late Antiquity - Volume 3.1

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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> News> Forthcoming Titles> Social and Political Life in Late Antiquity - Volume 3.1

Social and Political Life in Late Antiquity - Volume 3.1

Edited by William Bowden, Adam Gutteridge and Carlos Machado

Books

Available
Publication year: 2006


Series:	LAA 2005: 3.1 Social and Political Life / 3.2 Housing, 1
ISBN-13 (i)The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) has been changed from 10 to 13 digits on 1 January 2007:	978 90 04 14414 9
ISBN-10:	90 04 14414 5

Cover:	Hardback
Number of pages:	xxx, 658 pp.

List price:	€ 147.00 / US$ 218.00

Table of contents

Acknowledgements
List of contributors
Social and Political Life in Late Antiquity: an Introduction, Adam Gutteridge and Carlos Machado

Bibliographic Essays

Political Life in Late Antiquity: a Bibliographic Essay, Luke Lavan
Social Life in Late Antiquity: a Bibliographic Essay, Lukas Schachner

The Roman State: From Identity To Policy

Constructing Roman Identities in Late Antiquity? Material Culture on the Western Frontier, Ellen Swift
Coins and Politics in the Late Roman World, Richard Reece

The Emperor And His Monuments

Civil War and Public Dissent: the State Monuments of the Decentralised Roman Empire, Emanuel Mayer
Building the Past: Monuments and Memory in the Forum Romanum, Carlos Machado

The City: Social And Political Change

Fora and Agorai in Mediterranean Cities during the 4th and 5th c. A.D., Luke Lavan
The Control of Public Space and the Transformation of an Early Medieval town: a Re-examination of the Case of Brescia, Gian Pietro Brogiolo

Churches And Power

Architecture and Power: Churches in Northern Italy from the 4th to the 6th c., Gisella Cantino Wataghin
Dark Age Rome: Towards an Interactive Topography, Kate Cooper, Julia Hilner and Conrad Leyser
A New Temple for Byzantium: Anicia Juliana, King Solomon and the gilded ceiling in the Church of St Polyeuktos in Constantinople, Jonathan Bardill

The Middle Class

Artisans and Traders in Late Antiquity: Exploring the Limits of Archaeological Evidence, Enrico Zanini
Middle Class Houses in Late Antiquity, Simon Ellis
The Poor In Texts

Constructed and Consumed: Everyday Life of the Poor in 4th c. Cappadocia, Susan Holman
Poverty and Society in the World of John Chrysostom, Wendy Mayer

The Poor And Archaeology

The Urban Poor: Finding the Marginalised, Steve Roskams
Rural Impoverishment in Northern Gaul at the End of Antiquity: the Contribution of Archaeology, Paul Van Ossel

Socio-Cultural Change

Some Aspects of Social and Cultural Time in Late Antiquity, Adam Gutteridge
Social Transformation in the 6th-9th c. East, John Haldon

Readership

All those interested in the the archaeology and history of the Late Roman and Early Medieval periods in Europe and the Mediterranean.

About the author(s)

William Bowden is Lecturer in Roman Archaeology at the University of Nottingham. He specialises in the archaeology of Roman and late antique Greece and Albania. Recent publications include Epirus Vetus: the Archaeology of a Late Antique Province (2003).
Adam Gutteridge is the Artemis A.W. & Martha Joukowsky Postdoctoral Fellow at the Pembroke Center, Brown University. His Ph.D. (Cambridge University, 2005) considered perceptions of time and temporality in late antique culture.
Carlos Machado is a doctoral student in Ancient History, Linacre College at Oxford University, funded by the Brazilian Ministry of Science (CNPQ). He is working on the political use of space in late antique Rome, and the appropriation of urban space by the senatorial aristocracy. He currently holds a scholarship at the British School at Rome.

This book examines a number of themes relating to social and political life in Late Antiquity. The first part of the book considers how the powers of the emperor, state and civic authorities were expressed in the phyiscal environment, and how coinage and material culture were caught up in the political life of the period. The second part investigates the 'middle classes' and 'the poor', who are often less visible in archaeological, textual and epigraphic records. Other articles consider such topics as long term social evolution and the definition of time in Late Antiquity. Two extensive bibliographic essays provide an overview of published literature relating to social and political life.