Chypre, l’astrolabe et la <i>Lettre sur les climats</i>: du nouveau au sujet de la correspondance scientifique de Sévère Sebokht (VII<sup>e</sup> s.)Semitica et ClassicaSyriaca.org: The Syriac Reference PortalThe National Endowment for the HumanitiesThe International Balzan Prize FoundationDavid A. Michelsoncbsc_adminRecord added to Zotero bycbsc_adminSyriaca.org: The Syriac Reference Portalhttp://syriaca.org/cbss/YQY6N3CF/tei
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2025-05-20-05:00
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CREATED: This bibl record was autogenerated from a Zotero record.ÉmilieVilleyChypre, l’astrolabe et la <i>Lettre sur les climats</i>: du nouveau au sujet de la correspondance scientifique de Sévère Sebokht (VII<sup>e</sup> s.)http://syriaca.org/cbss/YQY6N3CFhttps://www.zotero.org/groups/a_comprehensive_bibliography_on_syriac_studies/items/YQY6N3CFhttps://www.zotero.org/groups/4861694/items/YQY6N3CFSemitica et Classica162023231-254Unpublished until now, the <i>Letter on climates</i> was written around ad 662 by the Syriac Orthodox bishop Severus Sebokht to the priest Basil of Cyprus. Its content provides key information on the history of astronomy, and in particular on the astrolabe. In the absence of any archaeological evidence dating from before the 9th century, some have doubted the material existence of the planispheric astrolabe before the development of the Arab sciences (8th-9th centuries), notwithstanding the preservation of two treatises on the uses of the astrolabe, written in Greek and Syriac in the 6th and 7th centuries.The present contribution provides the Syriac text, an unpublished translation and a commentary on the second part of the Letter on Climates devoted specifically to the astrolabe (for the first part, see the contribution of Olivier Defaux). This part of the letter provides further evidence that Syrian and Cypriot scholars had planispheric astrolabes at their disposal from at least the mid-seventh century. In addition, this letter forms part of a wider correspondence between Severus Sebokht and Basil of Cyprus that demonstrates a little-known fact: the presence of a Syriac Orthodox community on the island of Cyprus in the 7th century.
Villey, Émilie. “Chypre, l’astrolabe et La Lettre Sur Les Climats: Du Nouveau Au Sujet de La Correspondance Scientifique de Sévère Sebokht (VIIe s.).” Semitica et Classica 16 (2023): 231–54. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1484/J.SEC.5.137280.
Émilie Villey, Chypre, l’astrolabe et La Lettre Sur Les Climats: Du Nouveau Au Sujet de La Correspondance Scientifique de Sévère Sebokht (VIIe s.),” Semitica et Classica 16 (2023): 231–54, https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1484/J.SEC.5.137280.