The construction of mechanical instruments serving to simulate the motion of planets and to illustrate the constellations of fixed stars, stimulated the design of technical masterpieces in Ancient, Arabian and Western world. Occasionally they were offered as prominent state gifts. A gift of this kind was presented in 1232 to Emperor Frederick II. The donator was most probably Sultan al-Kamil of Egypt, not Sultan al-Ashraf of Damascus. The real configuration of the gift has been discussed controversially among scholars. Did it run all the seven planets or just sun and moon? The long-term prevailing interpretation, a complete planetary gear, was based on a description of the Renaissance scholar Trithemius. Two short texts of 13th-century chronicles do not give details to support this view. They confirm the existence of gearing for sun and moon. In order to show the cultural context this essay discusses the previous history of Arab designs and tries to determine the special type of the instrument. If the possibility of an equatorium can be excluded, there are more chances to conclude to the existence of a celestial globe or a spherical astrolabe. The gift of Sultan al-Kamil probably combined a celestial globe with an armillary sphere, the result would be a spherical astrolabe similar to later versions of the Dürer period, as can be seen in the background of Holbein′s portrait of Ambassadors. Concerning the mechanical drive one can retrace its history back to 8th-century China. In the Arab context al-Biruni′s treatise of c. 1000 AD might have served as a model just as did the various uses of counterweights and gears, while far in the past there is still the gearing of the famous Antikythera Mechanism. It is difficult to estimate the effect of Frederick′s “sky-tent” on further development in Western Europe. Frederick II did in fact show his instrument to a large number of guests. If any connection with a complicated planetary gear from northern Italy in 1300 (opus rotarum mirabilium) must be rejected, the presence of gears might well have stimulated the development of mechanical clocks and mechanical equatoria in Europe from c. 1270 onwards. One should also note the description of a spherical astrolabe (written without an Arabic model) in the “Libros del Saber” of the Spanish King Alfonso X the Wise c. 1260–1276.
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Requires Authentication UnlicensedDas „Himmelszelt“ des Sultans al-Kamil von 1232 für Kaiser Friedrich II.LicensedApril 17, 2012
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Requires Authentication Unlicensed‚Türken‘ im Alten Reich. Zur Aufnahme und Konversion von Muslimen im deutschen Sprachraum (16.–18. Jahrhundert)LicensedApril 17, 2012
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Requires Authentication UnlicensedPragmatismus und Kulturkritik. Die politische Kommunikation des deutschen Katholizismus in der Anfangsphase der Weimarer RepublikLicensedApril 17, 2012
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Requires Authentication UnlicensedDer Sonderweg vor Gericht. Angewandte Geschichte im Nürnberger Krupp-ProzessLicensedApril 17, 2012
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Requires Authentication UnlicensedGlobalgeschichte oder Weltgeschichte?LicensedApril 17, 2012
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Requires Authentication UnlicensedAllgemeinesLicensedApril 17, 2012
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Requires Authentication UnlicensedAltertumLicensedApril 17, 2012
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Requires Authentication UnlicensedMittelalterLicensedApril 17, 2012
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Requires Authentication UnlicensedFrühe NeuzeitLicensedApril 17, 2012
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Requires Authentication Unlicensed19./20. JahrhundertLicensedApril 17, 2012
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Requires Authentication UnlicensedRudolf Vierhaus (1922–2011)LicensedApril 17, 2012
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Open AccessEingegangene BücherApril 17, 2012