Analysis of the Farnese Globe

In exploring the figures of the constellations on the celestial globe held by the so-called 'Farnese Atlas', this article reflects upon Ptolemy's comment that '…in many cases our descriptions [of the constellations] are different because they seem to be more natural and to give a better proportioned outline to the figures described'. 1 It suggests that, whereas most scholars writing on the history of constellation imagery tend to focus on two areas to support their findings-scientific data gleaned from early descriptions and depictions of the stars and iconographical details derived from Graeco-Roman mythology -more attention should be paid to the largely independent pictorial tradition that also helped to shape the heavens. By examining a wide range of visual sources, such as Greek vase painting, coins and sculptural reliefs, one can conclude that, in many cases, the role of the artist is neither as an inventor nor as a scientific draughtsman, but as a torch-bearer for the continuity of a specific set of widely accepted pictorial formulae. Working from this, I tentatively propose a new avenue of exploration for the mysterious grid-like figure on the Farnese Globe, often misidentified as the 'Throne of Caesar'.

Der Globusfreund/ Globe Studies, 2025

Three ancient globes have been completely preserved: the Mainz Globe, the Kugel Globe and the Farnese Globe. Their chronological classification is uncertain. This comparative study presents a method of reconstructing the uranographies from the surviving texts (uranologies) of Aratus, (Pseudo-)Eratosthenes, Hipparchus and Ptolemy, and comparing them (a) with each other and (b) with the depictions on the globes. The findings are that the constellation figures cannot be considered individually, tell different stories and have different cultures of origin, and that the Mainz globe (despite its errors) shows the most comprehensive of the three pictorial inventories of the star-heavens.

MEDITERRANEAN ARCHAEOLOGY AND ARCHAEOMETRY, 2018

The globe of Hipparchus is not preserved. For that reason, it has been a source of much speculation and scientific inquiry during the last few centuries. This study presents a new analysis of the data given in the commentary on Aratus’ poem by Hipparchus, in comparison with other contemporary Babylonian and Greek astronomical data, as well as their predecessors in the first millennium and their successors up to Ptolemy. The result of all these studies are the following: i) although the data of Ptolemy and Hipparchus are undoubtedly correlated, it is certainly also wrong to accuse Ptolemy having simply copied and transformed it without correct citation; ii) although Hipparchus presumably observed most of his star catalogue with his own instruments, we cannot neglect Babylonian influences. Hipparchus was educated in Greek astronomy but, in his time, there are traces of Babylonian influences since at least two centuries. Since we are unable to definitely prove that Hipparchus used Babylonian data, we are not sure if there are direct Babylonian influences in his time or as a consequence of his education only. Finally, we present a virtual 3D–image showing what the globe of Hipparchus might have looked like.

Der Globusfreund, 35-37 (1987), pp. 97-124., 1987

The importance of the celestial sphere in the so called Atlas Farnesianus has been undervalued in the last two centuries due to the scant attention paid to it and to the lack of any serious study. We find discrepancies even in the number of constellations registered in the globe. This work Is only Intended to be a starting point for further studies, trying to collect and discuss as many references as possible on the subject and to give a detailed description of the sphere. The paper, though appeared in 1987, is still an obliged starting point for any scholar who wishes to treat the subject.

Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 2012

ArXiv, 2020

This paper summarises briefly and in English some of the results of the book Hoffmann: Hipparchs Himmelsglobus, Springer, 2017 that had to be written in German. The globe of Hipparchus is not preserved. For that reason, it has been a source of much speculation and scientific inquiry during the last few centuries. This study presents a new analysis of the data given in the commentary on Aratus' poem by Hipparchus, in comparison with other contemporary Babylonian and Greek astronomical data, as well as their predecessors in the first millennium and their successors up to Ptolemy. The result of all these studies are the following: i) although the data of Ptolemy and Hipparchus are undoubtedly correlated, it is certainly also wrong to accuse Ptolemy having simply copied and transformed it without correct citation; ii) although Hipparchus presumably observed most of his star catalogue with his own instruments, we cannot neglect Babylonian influences. Hipparchus was educated in Greek ...

Choice Reviews Online, 2006

This contribution is dedicated to the astronomical meaning of the so called "star catalogue" of the early astronomical compendium of MUL.APIN. After a careful re-reading of the text, the authors suggest an interpretation not as a "catalogue" but as an explanatory list. In some cases, this has led to new interpretations concerning the identification of certain celestial objects and the meaning of certain terms and divine names. Consequently, we propose that the deities associated with asterisms can be used to group the astronomical entities and thus help to unveil the frame of reference used in MUL.APIN, which is subdivided on a finer scale than previously realized. In the appendix, we present a tabular layout of the text of MUL.APIN and its translation.

Aleph, 2016

The present study scrutinizes the chapter on the fixed stars in the Hebrew translation of Farghānī’s Elements, produced by Jacob Anatoli in the first half of the thirteenth century. These are the main findings: (a) The central part of this chapter incorporates a unique and hitherto neglected account of the 48 Ptolemaic constellations. (b) Anatoli’s Hebrew translation of Farghānī’s Elements, and particularly of the aforementioned chapter on the fixed stars, actually embodies a Hebrew translation of an alternative redaction of that work. I would present evidence supporting the possibility that the Arabic Vorlage of this text belongs to the first phase of the Arabic Ptolemaic astronomical tradition and could have been composed by al-Farghānī. (c) This chapter is a fundamental text for understanding the Jewish interest in the fixed stars from the twelfth century onward. On the one hand, the Arabic text underlying Anatoli’s Hebrew translation was well-known in the twelfth century by Abraham Bar Ḥiyya and Abraham Ibn Ezra. On the other hand, Anatoli’s Hebrew translation of this chapter had a strong impact on subsequent Hebrew astronomy in the second half of the thirteenth century and throughout the fourteenth century.

New evidence for ancient Greek astronomer Hipparchus' lost Star Catalogue has come to light thanks to multispectral imaging of a palimpsest manuscript and subsequent decipherment and interpretation. This new evidence is the most authoritative to date and allows major progress in the reconstruction of Hipparchus' Star Catalogue. In particular, it confirms that the Star Catalogue was originally composed in equatorial coordinates. It also confirms that Ptolemy's Star Catalogue was not based solely on data from Hipparchus' Catalogue. Finally, the available numerical evidence is consistent with an accuracy within 1° of the real stellar coordinates, which would make Hipparchus' Catalogue significantly more accurate than his successor Claudius Ptolemy's.

M. Kilbourne Matossian, 2013