The ASTROLABE to verify times, dates and zodiac signs
British Museum Collection
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6m 16s
Curator William Greenwood talks us through the different parts of an astrolabe and how to use it.
Knowledge of the skies, now called astronomy, was an important aspect of Islamic culture from earliest times. Scientists and thinkers in the Islamic world built on Babylonian, Greek, Indian and pre-Islamic Arabian sources translated into Arabic to make huge advances in the study of the heavens. Astronomy today is the scientific study of celestial objects and phenomena – stars, planets, the moon, comets, and eclipses. Muslim astronomers, driven by such needs as determining prayer times and the direction of Mecca, developed and refined scientific instruments to cater to these requirements, including the astrolabe.
An astrolabe is made up of four key elements – rete, plates, mater, and alidade. The rete sits at the front of the device, acting as a map of the heavens with each pointer picking out a particular star. This can be rotated to reflect what the user sees in the sky – a particular star, or the sun, for example. An astrolabe will normally have several plates held within it, which can be swapped depending on how far north or south the user is. The rete and plates sit inside the mater, the back of which is engraved to verify times, dates, signs of the zodiac and other information. This is done using the alidade, a kind of ruler on the back of the astrolabe which is used to work out information.
Cast: William Greenwood (Curator)
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