The New Testament in Greek IV — The Gospel According to St. John — Edited by the American and British Committees of the International Greek New Testament Project

(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> Advanced Search> The New Testament in Greek IV — The Gospel According to St. John — Edited by the American and British Committees of the International Greek New Testament Project

The New Testament in Greek IV — The Gospel According to St. John — Edited by the American and British Committees of the International Greek New Testament Project

Volume Two The Majuscules

Edited by U.B. Schmid, with W.J. Elliott and D.C. Parker

Books

Available
Publication year: 2007


Series:	New Testament Tools, Studies and Documents, 37
ISBN-13 (i)The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) has been changed from 10 to 13 digits on 1 January 2007:	978 90 04 16313 3
ISBN-10:	90 04 16313 1

Cover:	Hardback
Number of pages:	x, 558 pp. 32 pp.

List price:	€ 177.00 / US$ 262.00

Reviews

'These two volumes are splendid research tools. The recent volume with accompanying online resources is a pleasure to use. In this rapidly advanciing field at their various stages of publication these volumes represented cutting-edge scholarship. Thanks should also be expressed to Brill publishers for supporting the publication of these highly significant volumes.'

Paul Foster The Expository Times, 2008

'Le soin avec lequel cette édition a été réalisée est exemplaire de ce qu'on peut faire de mieux à l'heure actuelle, et la mise en page généreuse des textes et des toutes les transcriptions et renvois chiffrés permets une consultation agréable et sans fatigue.'

Jean Borel, Revue de Théologie et de Philosophie, 2009

About the author(s)

Ulrich B. Schmid, Dr. theol. (1995), Dr. theol. habil. (2002), is Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham (UK) and Lecturer at the Kirchliche Hochschule Wuppertal/Bethel (Germany). He has published on New Testament texts and traditions from Patristic and Medieval Periods (Marcion, Diatessaron).
Bill Elliott, Honorary Research Fellow in Birmingham University, from where PhD was allotted in 1974.
David Parker is Edward Cadbury Professor of Theology and a Director of the Institute for Textual Scholarship and Electronic Editing at the University of Birmingham, UK. He has published extensively on New testament textual criticism.

This book provides transcriptions and images of some of the oldest parchment manuscripts of the Gospel of John in Greek. It contains also a complete critical apparatus of all the parchment manuscripts of John, including such important manuscripts as Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus. The transcriptions and plates are restricted to fragmentary and difficult-to-read copies. These havereceived the same detailed treatment as was used by the International Greek New Testament Project to make an edition of the papyri of John (Brill: 1995). The International Greek New Testament Project is a European-American project currently collaborating with the Institut für neutestamentliche Textforschung (Münster, Germany) to make a critical edition of the Gospel of John in the Editio Critica Maior.

	Print Version
	Recommendation