Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy Volume XX (2004)

(0)

[i]

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.

Close

Publications & Services> Books> Book Series> Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy Volume XX (2004)

Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy Volume XX (2004)

Volume XX (2004)

Edited by John J. Cleary and Gary M. Gurtler, S.J.

Books

Available
Publication year: 2005


Series:	Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy, 20
ISBN-13 (i)The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) has been changed from 10 to 13 digits on 1 January 2007:	978 90 04 14249 7
ISBN-10:	90 04 14249 5

Cover:	Hardback
Number of pages:	xxiv, 320 pp.

List price:	€ 130.00 / US$ 193.00

About the author(s)

John J. Cleary is Professor of Philosophy at Boston College, and Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at NUI, Maynooth (Ireland). He received his B.A. and M.A. from University College, Dublin, and his Ph.D. from Boston University in 1982. He was director of the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy from 1984 to 1988, and is the founding general editor of this series of proceedings. He has published extensively on ancient philosophy, including a monograph on Aristotle and Mathematics (Leiden, 1995). Currently he is studying the role of paideia in ancient political thought.
Gary M. Gurtler, S.J., is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Boston College. He was educated at St. John Fisher College (B.A.), at Fordham University (M.A. and Ph.D.), and at the Weston School of Theology (M.Div.). He has published on ancient philosophy, with special attention to Neoplatonism, including a book on Plotinus: The Experience of Unity (1988). Most recently, his article “The Activity of Happiness in Aristotle’s Ethics” appeared in The Review of Metaphysics (June, 2003). Currently, he is continuing research on alienation and otherness in the psychology of Plotinus.

This volume contains papers and commentaries originally presented to the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy during the 2003-04 academic year. Aristotle is treated in three colloquia. The topics range from (1) a new way of linking Aristotle’s Metaphysics and De Anima through a dynamic understanding of substance to (2) an exploration of the notion of causal agency between the agent and patient. The third deals with the distinction between the real and apparent good, situating Aristotle between Socrates and the Stoics. Four colloquia concern Platonic texts. Three focus on the Republic, (1) challenging the view that Plato is an ideologue, (2) examining the principle of specialization and its anomalous exclusion of the artisans from education in virtue, and (3) showing how justice is valuable in itself and constitutive of happiness. The fourth paper takes a phenomenological excursion into the Theaetetus bringing out the interplay between Platonic drama and philosophy. As always, the comments provide the reader with initial reaction and often lively counterpoint.

This publication has also been published in paperback, please click here for details.

Originally published as issue 20 of Volume 20 (2004) of Brill's journal Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy. For more details on this journal, please click here.

	Print Version
	Recommendation