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Dante and the early astronomers

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Reading edition

PART I.

FIG. PAGE

Dante Studying. From a fresco by Luca Signorelli at Orvieto Frontispiece

1. The Sun’s Path in the Sky at different Seasons 11

2. The Moon at Sunset, soon after New, and three days old 14

3. Path of Mars among the Stars, 1909 16

4. The Star Sphere 19

5. Synodic and Sidereal Periods 21

Star Map 34

The Moon-God of Ur. From a Cylinder-seal in the British Museum, date about b.c. 2400. By permission of the Trustees of the British Museum 36

6. The triple Star-sign of the Babylonians 37

7, 8, 9. The young Moon and the Pleiades after sunset, as seen in Babylon, b.c. 1000 42

10. The Scorpion. From a Babylonian boundary stone of about b.c. 1120, set up in the reign of Nebuchadnezzar I. Now in the British Museum 43

11. The Goat with Fishes’ Scales. From a Babylonian boundary stone 43

The Boat of the Sun travelling over the Sky. From an ancient Egyptian papyrus. Reproduced from Flammarion’s Astronomical Myths 46

12. The Universe according to Anaximander 59

13. The Universe of Leucippus 63

14. The Universe of Democritus 64

15. The Universe of Pythagoras 71

16. The System of Philolaus: night on Earth 73

17. do.twelve hours later: day on Earth 73

18. Earth and Sun according to Heraclides 74

19. The Spheres of the Sun in the system of Eudoxus 90

20. Method of Aristarchus for finding the Distance of the Sun 108

21. Pekin Observatory 114

22. A Pekin Astrolabe of the thirteenth century a.d. From photographs taken in 1888 and published in the Bulletin de la Société belge d’Astronomie 116

23. The Moveable Eccentric 119

24. The Movement of Spica 124

25. The Sun and the Equinox 128

26. The Movement of the Earth’s Axis which is the true cause of Precession. From Young’s Manual of Astronomy, 1902 131

27. Precession of the Equinoxes 133

28. Path of Mars, 1909 139

29. The Epicycle 139

30. A Planet “retrograding” and “in opposition” 140

31. Venus, Mercury, and the Sun 142

32. The Sun’s Deferent 145

33. Apparent Variation in the size of the Sun. Photographs taken at Kodaikanal Observatory, with the spectroheliograph, July 1, 1911, and Jan. 3, 1912. Actual size of the negative 146

34. The Moon’s Epicycle and Deferent 148

35. The Ptolemaic System 151

36. Method (erroneous) of estimating Planetary Distances, described by Alfraganus 188

37. Earth’s Shadow 192

PART II.

FIG. PAGE

A Mediæval Astronomer. From a painting by Gerard Dow 200

Astronomy. From a fresco in the Spanish Chapel of Santa Maria Novella, Florence 217

38. The Half-Moon shape of the Habitable Earth (Ristoro) 247

Climate Map of about a.d. 1110. Reproduced from Beazley’s Dawn of Modern Geography 248

39. Sun, Moon, and zenith. To illustrate Par. xxix 1-6 267

40. The Zodiac and the Months 276

41. The Ram on the Ecliptic. From the Cosmi Historia of Robert Flud, a.d. 1612. Reproduced from Brown’s Aratos. 279

Map of Stars visible before Dawn in Purgatory 295

42. Ursa Minor as a Horn. Par. xiii. 10 299

43. The Sun at the Equinox, seen from the poles and the equator. Conv. III. v. 327

44. Lunar and Solar Eclipses 339

Map of the World by Heinrich of Mainz, about a.d. 1110. Reproduced from Beazley’s Dawn of Modern Geography 344

45. The Universe of Dante 355

46. The Signs of the Zodiac at sunrise from the Mountain of Purgatory 375

47. Northern Slope of the Mountain of Purgatory 377

48. Dante’s View of Earth from the stars. Par. xxii. 395

49. do. Six hours later. Par. xxvii. 396

50. An impossible interpretation of Par. xxvii. 399

51. The Rising Sun at the spring equinox. Par. i. 39 403

52. The Moon’s Epicycle and Deferent 449

53. Comparative sizes of the Sun and his satellites 490

ABBREVIATED TITLES OF BOOKS USED IN THE TEXT.

Dante’s Works:—

Inf. Inferno.

Purg. Purgatorio.

Par. Paradiso.

Canz. Canzone.

Son. Sonetto.

Ball. Ballata.

Ecl. Eclogue.

V. N. Vita Nuova.

Conv. Convivio.

De Mon. De Monarchia.

V. E. De Vulgari Eloquentia.

Ep. Epistola.

Qu. Quæstio de Aqua et Terra.

El. Ast. Elementa Astronomica (Alfraganus).

Comp. del Mond. Della Composizione del Mondo (Ristoro).

Dante and the Early Astronomers.

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