Astronomical Knowledge Transmission Through Illustrated Aratea Manuscripts by Marion Dolan

Astronomical Knowledge Transmission Through Illustrated Aratea Manuscripts by Marion Dolan

This carefully researched monograph is a historical investigation of the illustrated Aratea astronomical manuscript and its many interpretations over the centuries. Aratus' 270 B.C.E. Greek poem describing the constellations and astrological phenomena was translated and copied over 800 years into illuminated manuscripts that preserved and illustrated these ancient stories about the constellations. The Aratea survives in its entirety due to multiple translations from Greek to Latin and even to Arabic, with many illuminated versions being commissioned over the ages. The survey encompasses four interrelated disciplines: history of literature, history of myth, history of science, and history of art. Aratea manuscripts by their nature are a meeting place of these distinct branches, and the culling of information from historical literature and from the manuscripts themselves focuses on a wider, holistic view; a narrow approach could not provide a proper prospective. What is most essential to know about this work is that because of its successive incarnations it has survived and been reinterpreted through the centuries, which speaks to its importance in all of these disciplines. 

This book brings a better understanding of the history, changes and transmission of the original astronomical Phaenomena poem. Historians, art historians, astronomy lovers, and historians of astronomy will learn more specialized details concerning the Aratea and how the tradition survived from the Middle Ages. It is a credit to the poetry of Aratus and the later interpreters of the text that its pagan aspects were not edited nor removed, but respected and maintained in the exact same form despite the fact that all sixty Aratea manuscripts mentioned in this study were produced under the rule of Christianity.

Dr. Dolan received her BS, MFA and PhD from the University of Pittsburgh, majoring in medieval manuscripts, minoring in medieval architecture and history of astronomy. She taught at the University of Pittsburgh and Carlow University for many years. Now an independent scholar, she continues her research on the transmission of astronomical knowledge and lectures on art history at the NSU Museum of Art, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, where she also serves as a docent. Archaeoastronomy has been a lifelong area of study; she has taught the subject many times, including aboard a ship during a cruise around the world as faculty member for Semester at Sea based at the University of Virginia, where she was able to observe firsthand and to teach students at many historic sites.
Dr. Dolan has studied astronomical manuscripts in the libraries of Europe, specializing in the surviving Aratea manuscripts. Her research was published in the book Astronomical Knowledge Transmission Through Illustrated Aratea Manuscripts (Springer, 2017).

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9783319860008
ISBN 10	3319860003
Title	Astronomical Knowledge Transmission Through Illustrated Aratea Manuscripts
Author	Marion Dolan
Series	Historical And Cultural Astronomy Ser
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Springer International Publishing AG
Year published	2018-08-10
Number of pages	464
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.