My art diary: Old map (collection "Sky map")

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Old map (collection "Sky map")

Solar system old map, "Orbium Planetarum Terram Complectentium Scenographia" 1708

Star map Constellations OLD WORLD CELLARIUS 1708

detail:

"Tabula Selenographica", map of the Moon, 1647 by D.Ioanne Hevelio

"Orbium Planetarum Terram Complectentium Scenographia" 1708
by Pieter Schenk (1660-1719) and Gerard Valk (1651-1726).

"Tabula Anemographica sen Pyxis Nautica vulgo Compass Charte." by Tobias Conrad Lotter (1717-1777). Date: 1776 (1755?)

During the Abbasid Caliphate, people from India influeced a set of signs for the "zodiac." The Arabic zodiac consists of 28 signs, including some of our tradtitional 12 signs. Some of our modern constellations were recognized as well. For instance Orion was called al-Jabbar, meaning giant. The name is also our word for algebra. One astrologer, al-Biruni wrote texts studying these signs and prediciting the will of Allah with them. He had the idea that Allah controlled the cosmos, so people could read it with astrology. It was a way to predict and anticipate Allah's will. Astrology and Astronomy worked hand in hand in the House of Wisdom's observatory during the Abbasid Caliphate.

http://sara.theellisschool.org/worldciv/museum2005/daniellet/index.html