Discoveries

March 19, 2024

A Rich Journey

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A new study on an 11th-century star chart unveiled a unique instance of academic collaboration between Muslims, Jews and Christians in Europe, Artnet reported.

While researching 17th-century Italian collector Ludovico Moscato, historian Federica Gigante incidentally came across an image of an astrolabe at the Museo Miniscalchi-Erizzo in Verona Italy.

The museum houses much of Moscato’s collection, including the astrolabe – an early navigation instrument used to map stars and determine time.

Gigante carefully studied the instrument and found small inscriptions in both Arabic and Hebrew, suggesting that it had made an extensive journey – and had various owners – across Spain, North Africa, and Italy.

In her paper, Gigante explained that the astrolabe was created in 11th-century Andalusia, which at the time was a Muslim-ruled area of Spain.

The astrolabe features markings from the Spanish regions of Toledo and Cordoba, as well as north African latitudes, indicating extensive travel across the region. It also has engravings of Muslim prayer lines, which means it was initially used for daily prayers.

Subsequent inscriptions signed “for Isaac, the work of Jonah” indicate it passed into Jewish hands, despite being written in Arabic script.

At the time, Arabic remained a language of choice for Spain’s Sephardi Jewish community, according to Ars Technica.

The author added that the artifact also has Hebrew inscriptions and translations of Arabic astrological signs, suggesting that its final destination was Verona, where a vibrant Jewish community thrived in the 12th century.

Eventually, the navigation tool ended up in Moscado’s collection, but its discovery suggests that it is one of the oldest multilingual astrolabes in existence, according to Gigante.

“This isn’t just an incredibly rare object,” she said. “It’s a powerful record of scientific exchange between Arabs, Jews and Christians over hundreds of years.”

This story originally appeared in the March 19, 2024 newsletter, Friends With Benefits.