Yossef Rapoport and Emilie Savage-Smith
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780226540887
- eISBN:
- 9780226553405
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226553405.001.0001
- Subject:
- Earth Sciences and Geography, Cartography
About a millennium ago, sometime between 1020 and 1050, in Cairo, a large illustrated book on the heavens and the Earth was completed. Modern scholars were unaware of its existence until its recent ...
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About a millennium ago, sometime between 1020 and 1050, in Cairo, a large illustrated book on the heavens and the Earth was completed. Modern scholars were unaware of its existence until its recent ‘discovery’ and acquisition in 2002 by the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford. It is today referred to as The Book of Curiosities, and it contains a remarkable series of early maps and astronomical diagrams, most of which are unparalleled in any Greek, Latin or Arabic material. The treatise is composed of two parts. The first is on the heavens, moving the reader from the outermost sphere of the stars through the spheres of the five planets visible to the naked eye down to the sub-lunar world of winds and comets. The second part is on the Earth, beginning with calculation of the Earth’s circumference, then moving to maps of the inhabited world, islands of the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean, and major lakes and rivers of the world, ending with strange plants and animals inhabiting the Earth. Lost Maps of the Caliphs examines how the discovery of this manuscript contributes to the history of cartography, to the history of astronomy and astrology, and to our knowledge of Mediterranean and Indian Ocean networks of communication. It includes new perspectives on the history of maritime charts before the age of the portolans, on the patterns of Mediterranean travel and trade before the Crusades, and on Fatimid–Ismaʿili missionary networks in East Africa and the Indus Valley.Less
About a millennium ago, sometime between 1020 and 1050, in Cairo, a large illustrated book on the heavens and the Earth was completed. Modern scholars were unaware of its existence until its recent ‘discovery’ and acquisition in 2002 by the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford. It is today referred to as The Book of Curiosities, and it contains a remarkable series of early maps and astronomical diagrams, most of which are unparalleled in any Greek, Latin or Arabic material. The treatise is composed of two parts. The first is on the heavens, moving the reader from the outermost sphere of the stars through the spheres of the five planets visible to the naked eye down to the sub-lunar world of winds and comets. The second part is on the Earth, beginning with calculation of the Earth’s circumference, then moving to maps of the inhabited world, islands of the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean, and major lakes and rivers of the world, ending with strange plants and animals inhabiting the Earth. Lost Maps of the Caliphs examines how the discovery of this manuscript contributes to the history of cartography, to the history of astronomy and astrology, and to our knowledge of Mediterranean and Indian Ocean networks of communication. It includes new perspectives on the history of maritime charts before the age of the portolans, on the patterns of Mediterranean travel and trade before the Crusades, and on Fatimid–Ismaʿili missionary networks in East Africa and the Indus Valley.
Daniel R. Headrick
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780195135978
- eISBN:
- 9780197561645
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780195135978.003.0006
- Subject:
- Education, History of Education
Not all those who contributed to the culture of information were members of the bourgeoisie. In the area of visual representation, two names—Cassini and ...
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Not all those who contributed to the culture of information were members of the bourgeoisie. In the area of visual representation, two names—Cassini and Harrison—illustrate how widely the culture of information had spread to all classes of society. For over a century, four generations of Cassinis dominated French astronomy and cartography. The founder of this illustrious lineage, Giovanni Domenico Cassini (1625 –1712), was a professor of astronomy at the University of Bologna when he was recruited to head the Paris Observatory in 1669. He became a French citizen, changed his name to Jean-Dominique Cassini, and entered into the privileged elite of the Old Regime. At the observatory, Jean Cassini discovered the rotation of the planets and developed a method of determining longitude by sighting the moons of Jupiter. He also launched the most elaborate cartographic project of his time, the map of France known as “la carte de Cassini.” His son Jacques Cassini (1677–1756), known as Cassini II, succeeded him at the observatory and as a member of the French Academy of Sciences. Jacques carried on his father’s work of measuring the arc of the meridian—a necessary but preliminary step in constructing an accurate map of France. In this effort, which was to take fifty years, Jacques Cassini was seconded by his son César-François Cassini de Thury (1714 –1784), known (of course) as Cassini III, who was also a member of the Academy and director of the observatory. When César-François died in 1784, his son Jacques-Dominique (1748 – 1845), count of Cassini (Cassini IV), carried on as head of the observatory, member of the academy, and director of the map project. The Cassinis’ Carte de France, completed in 1793, was a masterpiece of Old Regime cartography. Jacques Dominique’s son Gabriel (1784 –1832) broke with the family tradition and became a botanist. In contrast to this story of distinction and privilege, John Harrison’s life was one of struggle and hardship, rewarded by success only at the very end. Harrison (1693 –1776) was the son of a carpenter who taught himself how to build clocks.
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Not all those who contributed to the culture of information were members of the bourgeoisie. In the area of visual representation, two names—Cassini and Harrison—illustrate how widely the culture of information had spread to all classes of society. For over a century, four generations of Cassinis dominated French astronomy and cartography. The founder of this illustrious lineage, Giovanni Domenico Cassini (1625 –1712), was a professor of astronomy at the University of Bologna when he was recruited to head the Paris Observatory in 1669. He became a French citizen, changed his name to Jean-Dominique Cassini, and entered into the privileged elite of the Old Regime. At the observatory, Jean Cassini discovered the rotation of the planets and developed a method of determining longitude by sighting the moons of Jupiter. He also launched the most elaborate cartographic project of his time, the map of France known as “la carte de Cassini.” His son Jacques Cassini (1677–1756), known as Cassini II, succeeded him at the observatory and as a member of the French Academy of Sciences. Jacques carried on his father’s work of measuring the arc of the meridian—a necessary but preliminary step in constructing an accurate map of France. In this effort, which was to take fifty years, Jacques Cassini was seconded by his son César-François Cassini de Thury (1714 –1784), known (of course) as Cassini III, who was also a member of the Academy and director of the observatory. When César-François died in 1784, his son Jacques-Dominique (1748 – 1845), count of Cassini (Cassini IV), carried on as head of the observatory, member of the academy, and director of the map project. The Cassinis’ Carte de France, completed in 1793, was a masterpiece of Old Regime cartography. Jacques Dominique’s son Gabriel (1784 –1832) broke with the family tradition and became a botanist. In contrast to this story of distinction and privilege, John Harrison’s life was one of struggle and hardship, rewarded by success only at the very end. Harrison (1693 –1776) was the son of a carpenter who taught himself how to build clocks.
