Transcriber’s Notes:
Underscores “_” before and after a word or phrase indicate _italics_
in the original text.
Small capitals have been converted to SOLID capitals.
Illustrations have been moved so they do not break up paragraphs.
Old or antiquated spellings have been preserved.
Typographical errors have been silently corrected.
The table “TIME REFERENCES IN THE DIVINE COMEDY” on pages 358-366
has been reformatted from horizontal to vertical in order to
better fit the 72-column format.
Footnotes have been separated out from the main text by the use of
lines above and below, made of hyphens.
[Illustration: DANTE STUDYING. _Frontispiece_
_From a fresco by Luca Signorelli at Orvieto._
Or vedi insieme l’uno e l’altro polo,
Le stelle vaghe e lor viaggio torto;
E vedi ’l veder nostro quanto è corte.
_Petrarch._]
DANTE AND THE
EARLY ASTRONOMERS
BY
M. A. ORR
(MRS. JOHN EVERSHED).
Plainness and clearness without shadow of stain,
Clearness divine!
Ye heavens, whose pure dark regions have no sign
Of languor, though so calm, and though so great
Are yet untroubled and unpassionate;
Who, though so noble, share in the world’s toil,
And though so tasked keep free from dust and soil!
* * * * *
You remain
A world above man’s head, to let him see
How boundless might his soul’s horizons be,
How vast, yet of what clear transparency.
MATTHEW ARNOLD.
London
GALL AND INGLIS, 31 HENRIETTA ST., W.C.
_And Edinburgh._
PRINTED AND BOUND BY
GALL AND INGLIS,
NEWINGTON PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING WORKS,
EDINBURGH.
PREFACE.
An observatory on a mountain top is an ideal place in which to write
on astronomy and poetry, but it has one drawback: the difficulty of
obtaining books on special subjects. My husband’s criticisms and help
have been invaluable, and of books on modern astronomy there is no
lack; but many others which I have wished to consult I have been unable
to procure, and doubtless there are many more which I ought to have
read, but of whose existence I am ignorant.
This defect has been partly remedied, however, by Mr. Wicksteed’s great
kindness in lending me a number of books on Dante subjects.
I am much indebted to my sister, Miss Orr, who has helped me in
preparing these sheets for the press. The index is mainly her work.
Thanks are also due to several members of the staff of this
observatory: Mr. Sitarama Aiyar made some calculations, Mr. Nagarajan
Aiyar projected the map facing page 295, Mr. Krishna Aiyar prepared
photographs of several illustrations, and Mr. Krishnasawmy typed the
greater part of the copy for press. Mr. Raymond Beazley, the Trustees
of the British Museum, and Messrs Macmillan, have kindly allowed me to
reproduce illustrations from their publications.
To all these I offer grateful thanks.
M. A. EVERSHED.
KODAIKANAL OBSERVATORY,
SOUTH INDIA.
_October 1913._
THIS BOOK
IS DEDICATED TO
LUCY.
LIST OF PRINCIPAL AUTHORITIES.
Alfraganus, Elementa Astronomica. Arabicè et Latinè,
opera Jacobi Golii (Amsterdam, 1669).
Angelitti, Sulla Data del Viaggio Dantesco.
” Sull’ Anno della Visione Dantesca.
Antonelli, Sulle Dottrine Astronomiche della Divina Commedia (1865).
Aratus, The Phainomena. Translation by R. Brown.
Aristotle, Four Books on the Heavens. Greek and German, with notes,
by C. Prantl.
Beazley, Dawn of Modern Geography.
Berry, History of Astronomy.
Blake, Astronomical Myths, based on Flammarion’s History of the
Heavens.
Boffito et Melzi Eril, Almanach Dantis Aligherii (1908).
Brunetto Latini, Li Livres dou Trésor. (Chabaille, Paris, 1863).
Budge, Wallis, Guide to the Babylonian and Assyrian Antiquities,
British Museum, 1900.
Cantelli, La Conoscenza dei Tempi nel Viaggio Dantesco.
Cicero, De Senectute.
” Somnium Scipionis.
Cornewall Lewis, Historical Survey of the Astronomy of the Ancients.
Coulton, From St. Francis to Dante.
Delambre, Histoire de l’Astronomie Ancienne.
” Histoire de l’Astronomie du Moyen Age.
Della Valle, Il Senso Geografico-Astronomico della Divina Commedia
(1869).
Dreyer, Planetary Systems from Thales to Kepler.
Epping and Strassmeier, Astronomisches aus Babylon.
Gardner, Dante’s Ten Heavens.
Gruppe, Die Kosmischen Systeme der Griechen.
Ideler, Ursprung und Bedeutung der Sternnamen.
Imbriani, Studi Danteschi.
King, History of Sumer and Accad.
Lockyer, Dawn of Astronomy.
Lubin, Dante e gli Astronomi Italiani.
Maunder, The Oldest Astronomy. (_Journal of the British
Astronomical Association_).
Moore, Dante and his Biographers.
” Studies in Dante. 3 vols.
” Time references in the Divina Commedia.
Parker, Mrs. Langloh, Australian Fairy Tales.
Plato, The Republic. Translation by Jowett.
” The Timaeus. ” ”
Plutarch, On the Face in the Moon. Translation by Prickard.
Pradeau, Key to the Time-Allusions of Dante.
Rashdall, Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages.
Ristoro d’Arezzo, Della Composizione del Mondo colle sue Cagioni.
(Narducci, Milan, 1864).
Scartazzini, A Companion to Dante, translated by Butler.
” La Divina Commedia (edizione minore, with notes).
Schaubach, Geschichte der Griechischen Astronomie bis auf
Eratosthenes.
Schiaparelli, I precursori di Copernico nell’ Antichità.
” I Primordì dell’ Astronomia Babilonese.
” I Progressi dell’ Astronomia Babilonese.
” L’Astronomia nell’ antico Testamento.
” Le Sfere Omocentriche di Eudosso, di Callipo,
e di Aristotile.
” Origine del Sistema Planetario Eliocentrico presso
i Greci.
Temple Classics, Dante, (Divine Comedy, Convivio, Latin Works, with
translations and notes).
The Panchasiddhântikâ of Varâha Mihira. Translated from the
Sanscrit, and edited by Thibaut and M. S. Dvivedi.
Toynbee, Paget, Articles on Dante’s Obligations to Alfraganus,
Albertus Magnus, Orosius, and Dante’s theories regarding
the markings on the Moon (in _Romania_ and _Giornale
Storico della Letteratura Italiana_).
” Dante Dictionary.
” The Life of Dante (Oxford Biographies).
Tozer, An English Commentary on Dante’s Divina Commedia.
Wicksteed, The Early Lives of Dante.
Wicksteed and Selfe, Villani’s Chronicle.
Witte, Dante-Forschungen.
* * * * *
All quotations from Dante’s works are taken from Moore’s _Tutte le
Opere di Dante Alighieri_, 3rd edition, Oxford 1894.
Astronomical data are chiefly taken from Young’s _Manual of Astronomy_,
and the _Nautical Almanac_.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
INTRODUCTION 1
PART I.
ASTRONOMY FROM PRIMITIVE TIMES UNTIL THE AGE OF DANTE.
I. APPARENT MOVEMENTS OF THE HEAVENLY BODIES AS SEEN
FROM EARTH 9
II. THE BEGINNINGS OF ASTRONOMY. Gnomons and
clepsydras; the constellations and the calendar;
astrology and star-worship; early cosmogonies 25
III. GREEK ASTRONOMY: FIRST PERIOD.
B.C. 900 to B.C. 350
1. Homeric Greece; First Notions of Astronomy 51
2. Thales and Anaximander: Earth flat, heaven a
series of hemispheres 55
3. Later Flat Earth Systems: the Universe a sphere 60
4. Pythagoras and his Followers: Earth round,
Earth in Motion 66
IV. GREEK ASTRONOMY: SECOND PERIOD,
B.C. 400 to A.D. 150
1. Plato: the World-Soul 79
2. Eudoxus: the Spheres 88
3. Calippus: the Spheres of Eudoxus improved 93
4. Aristotle: the Philosophy of the Spheres; the
three kinds of motion; Earth immoveable at the
centre of the Universe; the elements; the
celestial movers, and the First Mover 95
5. Aristarchus: Earth turning on her axis, and
revolving round the sun 107
6. The School of Alexandria: instruments and
methods; Earth’s diameter measured; the theory
of Moveable Eccentrics 112
7. Hipparchus: “the Father of Astronomy;” his
star catalogue; his inventions and discoveries;
the precession of the equinoxes 122
8. Ptolemy: the Almagest; the system of Epicycles
and Eccentrics; distance and size of the moon
discovered; the stars; astrology; geography, the
seven climates 134
V. RETROSPECT: Greek Cosmogonies; Greek calendar 159
VI. ASTRONOMY UNDER IMPERIAL AND CHRISTIAN ROME.
B.C. 46 to A.D. 1000. Amateur
Astronomers; the Julian Calendar; passion for
Astrology; the Fathers; the ecclesiastical Calendar;
the Schools; the Monasteries 167
VII. ARAB ASTRONOMY. A.D. 750 to 1250.
Schools of Baghdad, Egypt, Spain. Improvements in
Mathematics and Instruments; Ptolemy’s values more
correctly determined; supposed discoveries of
planetary distances and trepidation; a ninth sphere
added to Ptolemy’s eight 181
VIII. THE RETURN OF GREEK ASTRONOMY TO EUROPE.
A.D. 1000 to 1300. The Universities;
Arab influence; Greek books; new European books;
the course in Astrology in Bologna; Aristotle and
the Church 199