The Earliest Treatises on the Astrolabe
Although Islamic tradition ascribes the invention of the astrolabe to the Hellenistic astronomer Claudius Ptolemy of Alexandria (2nd cent. CE),
the origin of this device should probably be placed a few centuries earlier. The stereographic projection, a mathematical method for mapping a sphere
on to a plane surface, was already known to Hipparch of Nicaea (2nd cent. BCE) and the Roman architect Marcus Vitruvius Pollo (1st cent BCE) described
a water clock with a rotating disk representing the celestial sphere visible at any given day and hour (De Architectura
IX 8.8-14).
- Klammroth, Martin, “Ueber die Auszüge aus griechischen Schriftstellern bei al-Ja‘qûbî: IV.
Mathematiker und Astronomen”, Zeitschrift der Deutschen
Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, 42 (1888), 1-44 [Halle link].
- Zinner, Ernst, “Über die früheste Form des Astrolabs”, Berichten der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft Bamberg, 30 (1947),
8-21 (*) – reprinted in Kleine Veröffentlichungen der Remeis-Sternwarte, 1
(1946/53), nr. 2, 9-21 [local pdf copy].
- Neugebauer, Otto E., “Studies in Ancient Astronomy IX: The Early History of the Astrolabe”, Isis: International Review Devoted to
the History of Science and Civilization, 40 (1949), 240-256 [JSTOR
link] – reprinted in: O.E. Neugebauer, Astronomy and History: Selected Essays (New York [etc.]: Springer-Verlag, 1983),
pp. 278-294.
- Drachmann, Aage Gerhardt, “The Plane Astrolabe and the Anaphoric Clock”, Centaurus: ???,
3 (1953), 183-189 [Wiley
link].
- Stautz, Burkhard, “Die früheste bekannte Formgebung der Astrolabien”, in: A. von Gotstedter (ed.), Ad Radices: Festband zum
fünfzigjährigen Bestehen des Instituts für Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften der Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main
(Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1994), pp. 315-328.
- Turner, Anthony J., “The Anaphoric Clock in the Light of Recent Research”, in: M. Folkerts & R.P. Lorch (eds.), Sic Itur
ad Astra: Studien zur Geschichte der Mathematik und Natuwissenschaften. Festschrift für den Arabisten Paul Kunitzsch zum 70. Geburtstag
(Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2000), pp. 536-547.
The astronomer Claudius Ptolemy of
Alexandria,
dressed in royal attire, consulting an astrolabe. Below, in Greek with a
Latin translation, an epigram from the Anthologia Graeca attributed to
Ptolemy. Miniature from a Byzantine manuscript (dated c. 1453) of his Geographica
(Venice, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, ms. Cod. Gr. Z. 388, coll. 333,
fol. 6v).
 |
|
Among the preserved works of Ptolemy is a short treatise, the Planispaerium, which discusses the projection of circles on
a sphere on to a plane surface and also mentions a “horoscopic instrument” (horoscopio
instrumento), which probably refers to an early version of the astrolabe. The original Greek text is lost but the work survives in an Arabic translation made around, or before, 900 by
an unknown translator.
This translation was also known in Muslim Spain, where the Andalusian astronomer-mathematician Maslama ibn Ahmad al-Majrītī
(† 1007/08) wrote a commentary on it which was translated into Latin in 1143, in Tolosa, by Hermann of Carinthia.
- Björnbo, Axel Anthon, Studien über Menelaos’ Sphärik: Beiträge zur Geschichte der Sphärik und Trigonometrie der Griechen
(Leipzig: B.G. Teubner Verlag, 1902 [= Abhandlungen zur Geschichte der mathematische Wissenschaften, nr. 14])
[Internet Archive link].
- Heiberg, J.L. (ed.), Claudii Ptolemaei opera quae exstant omnia: Volumen II. Opera astronomica minora (Leipzig:
B.G. Teubner Verlag, 1907), pp. XII-XIII, CLXXX-CLXXXIX & 225-259
[Internet Archive link] – edition of the Latin translation by Hermann of Carinthia.
- Drecker, Joseph, “Das Planisphaerium des Claudius Ptolemaeus”, Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science
and Civilization, 9 (1927), 255-278 [JSTOR link] – German
translation of the Latin translation by Hermann of Dalmatia edited by Heiberg (1907).
- Rome, Adolphe, “l’Astrolabe et le Météoroscope d’après le ‘Commentaire’ de Pappus sur le 5e livre de l’Almageste”, Annales de
la Société Scientifique de Bruxelles, sér. A., 47 (1927),
2me partie, 77-102 (*).
- Zinner, Ernst, “Cl. Ptolemaeus und das Astrolab”, Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Civilization,
41 (1950), 286-287 [JSTOR link].
- Anagnostakis, Christopher, The Arabic Version of Ptolemy’s Planisphaerium (Yale: PhD Thesis Yale University, 1984)
(*).
- Kunitzsch, Paul, “The Second Arabic Manuscript of Ptolemy’s Planisphaerium”, Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen
Wissenschaften, 9 (1994), 83-89 [= Kunitzsch (2004), nr. VI]).
- Kunitzsch, Paul & Lorch, Richard P., Maslama’s Notes on Ptolemy’s Planisphaerium and Related Texts (Munich: Verlag der
Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1994 [= Sitzungsberichte der Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften,
Philosophisch-Historische Klasse, Jahrgang 1994, Heft 2]).
- Kunitzsch, Paul, “The Role of Al-Andalus in the Transmission of Ptolemy’s Planisphaerium and Almagest”, Zeitschrift für Geschichte
der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften, 10 (1995/96), 147-155 [= Kunitzsch (2004), nr. VII]).
- Lorch, Richard P., “Ptolemy and Maslama on the Transformation of Circles into Circles in Stereographic Projection”, Archive for
History of Exact Sciences, 49 (1995/96) 271-284 [SpringerLink].
Based on a now lost work on the astrolabe by Theon of Alexandria
(c. 375 CE).
- Hase, Charles Benoît [Karl Benedikt], “Joannis Alexandrini, cognomine Philoponi, de usu astrolabii ejusque constructione libellus.
E. Codd. Mss. Regiae bibliothecae Parisiensis edidit”, Rheinisches Museum für Philologie, 6 (1838/39), 127-171
[Google Books link] – also pubished as a separatum [Bonn:
Ed. Weber, 1839] – edition of the Greek text.
- Tannery, Paul, “Notes critiques sur la traité de l’astrolabe de Philopon”, Revue de
philologie, de littérature et d’histoire
anciennes, nouvelle série, 12 (1888), 60-73 [*] – reprinted
in: J.L. Heiberg (ed.), Mémoires scientifiques de Paul Tannery (Toulouse/Paris: Édouard Privat/Gauthier-Villars, 1920),
tome IV [‘Sciences exactes chez les Byzantins 1884-1919’], pp. 241-260 [Internet Archive link].
- Drecker, Joseph, “Des Johannes Philoponos Schrift über das Astrolab”, Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science
and Civilization, 11 (1928), 15-44 [JSTOR link] – German
translation of the Greek text edited by C.B. Hase (1838/39).
- Tannery, Paul, “Jean le Grammairien d’Alexandrie (Philopon): Sur l’usage de l’astrolabe et sur les tracés qu’il présente”, in:
J.L. Heiberg (ed.), Mémoires scientifiques de Paul Tannery (Toulouse/Paris: Édouard Privat/Gauthier-Villars, 1929),
tome IX [‘Philologie 1880-1928’], pp. 341-367 – French translation, based on the Greek text edited by C.B. Hase (1838/39),
found in 1927 in Tannery’s unpublished papers.
- Segonds, Alain-Philippe, Jean Philopon: Traité de l’astrolabe (Paris: Société Internationale de l’Astrolabe, 1981
[= Astrolabica, nr. 2]) – new edition of the Greek text with a French translation.
Based on a now lost work on the astrolabe by Theon of Alexandria
(c. 375 CE).
- Nau, François-Nicolas, “Le traité sur l’astrolabe plan, de Sévère Sabokt, écrit au VIIe siècle, d’après des sources greques, et publié pour
la première fois d’après un ms. de Berlin”, Journal asiatique ou recueil de mémoires d’extraits et de notices relatifs à l’histoire,
à la philosophie, aux langues et à la littérature des peuples orientaux, sér. 9, 13 (1899), 56-101 & 238-303
[Internet Archive link] – edition of the Syriac text
with a French translation.
