ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

360 Degrees of the Sky: One Astral Representation per Day

• In Event: Visualization and Material Cultures of the Heavens across Eurasia

English Abstract

In the Islamicate world, astral imagery flourished from an early period, shaped by diverse inherited traditions across manuscripts and objects. Yet in the early modern era, a new tendency emerges: the depiction of the 360 degrees of the sky, often represented as one astral image per day. Why does this phenomenon appear at this particular moment? What historical contexts, epistemic needs, and cross-cultural encounters shaped its development? And how does this practice relate to other astral traditions circulating at the time?
This talk examines these lesser-known and rarely studied images, which resist clear classification and often lack a consistent visual pattern, in order to shed light on their origins, functions, and scientific significance.

Author

• Aida Alavi, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science