The most special things in life are sometimes right before our eyes, and all it takes is for someone from the outside to come and help us make them happen. This is exactly what happened at the Verona museum after an object they had forgotten there was recently found, and it is now one of the most important pieces of their collection. It is an Andalusian astrolabe from the 11th century, which is extremely valuable due to its intercultural transition.

And what makes it unique is that it has become a kind of Wikipedia from 1,000 years ago, with corrections and notes from different societies over the centuries.

The smartphone of the ancient world. It is not known who invented it, but the first astrolabe dates back to B.C. It is known that it dates back to the Hellenistic civilization between 220-150 BC. These devices were perfected over the centuries, but basically they were tools that allowed, thanks to triangulation, to measure distances, determine time from latitude and vice versa. While they were widely used by astronomers, they were also used by sailors and were very useful in finding their way in the ocean.

Although the purpose of the tool is common, different societies developed it in one way or another. For example, Muslim astronomers introduced indicators to make it easier to calculate the direction to Mecca for prayer, and in the Christian East these were made of brass, which was much more durable than those made of wood. They can be described as the smartphones of old because of their multitude of applications, and people such as Columbus wrote of using the tool in their explorations.

It was discovered by chance. Many astrolabes of great value have been found over the years, but there are few (if any) similar to the one in Verona, and the credit for this goes to Federica Gigante. Gigante, who has a PhD at the Cambridge History Faculty, came across a newly uploaded photo of the Fondazione Museo Miniscalchi-Erizzo museum. The different inscriptions caught his attention and when he asked for information from the museum, the museum responded that they had not yet begun the process of examining the object.

“The museum didn’t know what it was and thought it might be a fake. Now it turns out it’s one of the most important pieces in their collection,” Gigante comments. And this is not surprising, because in the study published by the researcher it can be seen that this Andalusian astrolabe made many trips.

cultural change. Gigante knows what he’s doing, being an expert on Islamic astrolabes, and confirms the device’s origin in 11th-century Andalusia. The engraving style and the arrangement of some elements coincide with the astrolabes produced at that time. It contains Muslim prayer lines, prayer names and other prompts to enable its users to perform prayers properly throughout the day.

However, Gigante comments that “as it changed hands, it was subject to many changes, additions, and adaptations. At least three different users felt the need to add translations and corrections to this object.” This is what makes it unique, because it has Arabic numerals written on it, but also Hebrew (it is estimated that there were two changes in this language), Latin and Western numerals.

You can see the original descriptions in Arabic, but also Hebrew scratches and European “36” inscription.

incorrect corrections. As a result, multiple inscriptions were added throughout history, and “these additions and translations suggest that the object left Spain at some point and circulated among the Jewish community in Italy, where Arabic was not understood and Hebrew was used instead,” the researcher says. Among these revisions you can see new Hebrew engravings translating the Arabic names of the astrological signs, but on both sides of the plates there are markings with slightly scratched elements to indicate the new values.

And the interesting thing is that next to the inscription indicating the latitude of Medinaceli, someone engraved the original values ​​and wrote new ones. “Not only do these numbers differ from the value given in Arabic, they also do not agree with each other,” Gigante said. “A later user of the instrument may have thought the original Arabic value was incorrect and changed it, but it turns out that the correct modern value for the latitude of Medinaceli is the Arabic value.” “It confirms that it is more correct than any other change.” Something similar happens at another point in the device; Here an attempt is made to correct the latitudes of Córdoba and Toledo.

An almost unique work. This tells us very well about the mathematical knowledge that the Arabs already had hundreds of years ago, but also tells us how different cultures reused such tools and captured the knowledge that each had at the time. What is interesting is that it was found almost by chance and it is believed that this astrolabe came from the collection of the Veronese nobleman Ludovico Moscardo (1611 – 1681) before it was inherited by the Miniscalchi family.

In 1990, the family founded the museum to preserve their collection, and this device, according to Gigante, is unique because “the ‘Islamic’ object, the Jewish and the European, is something that cannot be separated”. When such discoveries occur, one wonders how many objects in similar condition are rediscovered in basements and warehouses and valued. You can only wonder if it’s collecting dust or moisture just waiting to be given away.

Pictures | University of Cambridge

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