Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures

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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> Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures

Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures

Family, Law and Politics

Edited by Suad Joseph

Encyclopedic Work

Available
Publication year: 2005


Series:	Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures, 2
ISBN-13 (i)The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) has been changed from 10 to 13 digits on 1 January 2007:	978 90 04 12818 7
ISBN-10:	90 04 12818 2

Cover:	Hardback
Number of pages:	xxviii, 844 pp. 8 illus.

List price:	€ 239.00 / US$ 323.00

Table of contents

List of Contributors, List of Illustrations, Acknowledgments, Preface (Suad Joseph)
Adoption and Fostering
Apostasy
Bahā'ī Women
Citizenship
Civil Society
Civil Society and Democracy Ideologies
Colonialism and Imperialism
Constitutions
Democracy Ideologies
Divorce and Custody: Contemporary Practices
Domestic Violence
Domesticity
Family Relations
Families: Metaphors of Nation
Family: Modern Islamic Discourses
Fatwa
Freedom of Expression
Friendship
Gender Socialization
Gossip
Honor
Honor: Crimes of
Honor: Feminist Approaches to
Hospitality
Household Division of Labor
Household Forms and Composition
Human Rights
Identity Politics
Infanticide and Abandonment of Female Children
Inheritance: Contemporary Practice
International Conventions
International Organizations
Jewish Women
Jihad
Kinship, Descent Systems
Kinship, Descent Systems and State
Kinship, Idiomatic
Kinship and State
Kinship: Milk
Kurdish Women
Law: Access to the Legal System
Law: Articulation of Islamic and non-Islamic Systems
Law: Criminal
Law: Cultural Defense
Law: Customary
Law: Enforcement
Law: The Four Sunni Schools of Family Law
Law: Other Schools of Family Law
Law: Family Law, 7th–Late 18th centuries
Law: Modern Family Law, 1800–Present
Law: Women as Witnesses
Memory, Women, and Community
Military: Women’s Participation
Modesty Discourses
Motherhood
Nation, Women, and Gender
National Insignia, Signs and Monuments
Networks
Patronage and Clientage
Peacekeeping and Conflict Management
Political Parties and Participation
Political Prisoners
Political Regimes
Political-Social Movements: Ethnic and Minority
Political-Social Movements: Feminist
Political-Social Movements: Islamist Movements and Discourses
Political-Social Movements: Islamist Movements and Discourses and Religious Associations
Political-Social Movements: Millenarian
Political-Social Movements: Peace Movements
Political-Social Movements: Protest Movements
Political-Social Movements: Revolutionary
Political-Social Movements: Unions and Workers’ Movements
Postcolonial Dissent
Public Office
Public/Private Dichotomy
Race, Gender, and Difference
Rape
Religious Associations
Sectarianism and Confessionalism
Secularism
Sexual Abuse: Children
Shah Bano Affair
Social Hierarchies. Modern
Stereotypes
Sufi Orders and Movements
Turkey, South Asia, Central Asia, Afghanistan, Iran, the Caucasus, the Arab East
Umma
Women’s Rights: Male Advocacy
Women’s Studies Programs in Muslim Countries
Women’s Unions and National Organizations
Youth Culture and Movements
Zoroastrian Women
Indices to Volume II, Name Index, Subject Index

Reviews

'Every serious research library should acquire this volume and the EWIC series as a whole.'
Heather J. Sharkey, International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Vol. 30.
'Highly recommended.'
S.M. Estelle-Holmer, Choice, 2005.

About the author(s)

Suad Joseph, Ph.D., Columbia University, New York, is Professor of Anthropology and Womens Studies at the University of California, Davis. She has published Intimate Selving in Arab Families: Gender, Self and Identity (Syracuse University Press,1999), and Gender and Citizenship in the Middle East (Syracuse University Press, 2000).


Family, Law and Politics, Volume II of the Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures, brings together over 360 entries on women, family, law, politics, and Islamic cultures around the world.

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