Emilie Savage-Smith

An astrologer's map: A relic of late antiquity

Abstract A Greek map of the world, which includes a windrose, zones, places in and around Egypt, and hell, is studied in reference to its context: an anonymous astrological miscellany. Other examples of this map have been found in a second context, among anonymous scholia to Theon of Alexandrias commentary on Ptolemys Handy Tables (Procheiroi kanones), which were also of use to astrologers. The selection of Egyptian place‐names found on the map provides some clue to its possible origin, while the omission of the Mediterranean as well as the port of Alexandria is significant. Evidence suggests that the original map (known today only through later copies) is of an earlier date than the texts surrounding it, and that it may be one of the earliest world maps preserved from Late Antiquity.

Medieval Islamic View of the Cosmos: The Newly Discovered Book of Curiosities

In June 2002, the Department of Oriental Collections of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, acquired an Arabic manuscript of considerable importance to the history of medieval cartography.1 This newly discovered manuscript contains a remarkable series of early maps and astronomical diagrams, most of which are unparalleled in any Greek, Latin or Arabic material known to be preserved today. The rhyming title of the volume, Kitāb Gharā’ib al-funūn wa-mulahD al-‘uyūn, loosely translates as The Book of Curiosities of the Sciences and Marvels for the Eyes. The volume contains a single Arabic treatise formed of two books: the first, on celestial matters, is composed of 10 chapters, and the second, on terrestrial matters, is divided into 25 chapters. The author of The Book of Curiosities is not named and has not been identified. Internal evidence suggests that the book was composed in the first half of the 11th century, after 1020 and before 1050, most probably in Egypt. Physical evidence, however, suggests that the copy we have today is more recent. The paper, inks and pigments are consistent with Egyptian–Syrian products made from the end of the 12th through the 14th century. The script suggests that it was copied about 1200. As is typical of many medieval compositions, the treatise begins with a description of the heavens and their influence upon events on earth. It contains a number of unique illustrations and rare texts, including an illustrated discourse on comets and several pages depicting the ‘lunar mansions’ — star-groups near the ecliptic whose risings and settings were traditionally used to predict rain and other meteorological events — with neighbouring prominent stars. The author’s interest here is primarily astrological and divinatory, and no mathematical astronomy is presented. The second book, on the earth, is of greater interest to historians of cartography. According to the author, this second book is largely dependent upon the Geography of Ptolemy. In general, though, our author’s interest is descriptive and historical rather than mathematical. Along with geographical and historical texts, the author provides two world maps, one rectangular and one circular. He then follows with maps of the great seas known to him, which were the Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean and the Caspian. The author was particularly interested in depicting the shores of the Mediterranean, of which he probably had first-hand knowledge. Besides the detailed schematic map of the coasts and islands of the Mediterranean, the treatise also contains unique maps of Sicily, Cyprus and the commercial centres of al-Mahdiyah in North Africa and Tinnis in Egypt. The treatise also includes five unique river-maps of the Nile, the Euphrates, the Tigris, the Oxus and the Indus.

Facsimile of Oxford, Bodleian MS Arab. c. 90

This is the fourth chapter, in Arabic of this book titled on An Eleventh-Century Egyptian Guide to the Universe. Throughout the book is primarily astrological and divinatory, and no mathematical astronomy is presented. Keywords: Egyptian guide; Universe; eleventh-century

Book One: On the Heavens – المقالة الأولى

The book two: on the Earth, in Arabic is divided into various chapters. This chapter contains various figures and their description. Keywords: Earth; Arabic

Book Two: On the Earth – المقالة الثانية

The book two: on the Earth, in Arabic is divided into various chapters. The author follows with maps of the great seas known to him, which were the Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean and the Caspian. Keywords: Earth; Indian Ocean; Mediterranean

Book Two: On the Earth

The Book two: on the Earth, is divided into twenty-five chapters. According to the author, this second book is largely dependent upon the Geography of Ptolemy. Keywords: Earth; geography; Ptolemy

Book One: On the Heavens

In this chapter, the author says that he has divided this volume, entitled Curiosities of the Sciences and Marvels of the Eyes , into books, each book with consecutive chapters and topics. The first book consists of the structure of the outermost sphere, its form, its attributes, and its extent; the twelve signs of the zodiac; the seven planets; the lunar mansions, their indicator stars ( ayyuqat ) and their positions; the comets, their influences and their conditions; and what needs to be known and requires explanation in their regard. The second book covers the seven climes, their longitudes and their latitudes, their seas and their islands, the extent of their regions, as well as their highlands, lowlands, famous rivers, and proverbial localities. Then, in the end, the author has added a description of the wonders and curiosities of the Earth. Keywords:comets; indicator stars; lunar mansions; outermost sphere

Islam, Arabs, and the Intelligent World of the Jinn (review)

Bruno and Moritz Hofmann) concluded that Anna Fessler had died specifically from arsenic poisoning, despite the fact that the autopsy report contained no empirical evidence proving the presence of arsenic, and put forward an alternative theory (that Fessler’s own body had generated the poison that killed her) that could have been used to exonerate Schmieg. As Robisheaux points out, Bruno and Hofmann ‘‘were not following the evidence at all but actually asserting their own erudition’’ (p. 254)—in other words, they were opting for the interpretation that was most damaging to Schmieg. Von Gülchen’s willingness to look to his alma mater of Strasbourg for legal approval to have Schmieg tortured again (after Altdorf had advised against it) perhaps also hints at a personal, professional interest in ensuring that Schmieg was convicted. As Robisheaux concedes, the Strasbourg opinion on this point implicitly advised von Gülchen to treat Schmieg’s witchcraft as an exceptional crime—without saying so in as many words—for apparently no other reason than that Anna Schmieg was ‘‘a godless, barbaric, and crazy old woman’’ (p. 280). Von Gülchen went on to authorize her torture on not just one but two further occasions (October 22 and 29); this, combined with psychological pressure exerted by intense spiritual questioning by the Langenburg court pastor, Ludwig Casimir Dietzel, duly elicited the required confession from Schmieg. She was strangled and burned at the stake (after having her flesh torn with hot irons—an unusually severe additional punishment that goes unremarked by Robisheaux) on November 8, 1672. Von Gülchen was doubtless a thoughtful jurist with a genuine concern for procedural detail, and he may well have believed that Hohenlohe was under threat from a diabolical conspiracy of witch-poisoners, but there was also a ruthlessness about his pursuit of Schmieg that hints at a distaste on his part for her and her behavior that amounted, perhaps, to a form of misogyny.