Two Astromagical Manuscripts of Alfonso X

Maarten E.R.G.N. Jansen & Gabina Aurora Pérez Jiménez: The Ancient Mexican Astronomical Apparatus: An Iconographical Criticism. Archaeoastronomy VI (1-4): 89-95, 1983

It is generally believed that ancient American astronomers made their observations with an instrument consisting of two crossed sticks. This theory is reexamined here and it is shown to be based on an erroneous interpretation of a Mixtec phonetic sign.

2007

We must especially remember the work and contribution of Jerónimo Muñoz due to the enormous influence he had on Spanish astronomers. Apart from his work and proposals in the field of mathematical astronomy, Muñoz also contributed to cosmological questions, supporting a

Culture and Cosmos

The present paper shows that the Mesoamerican astronomers were indeed able to calculate the positions and periods of the Nodes of Moon orbit and based their cosmology according to eclipse possibilities and impossibilities during their successive world eras. Here mythology and imperial ideology proves to be firmly constructed on scientific observations and conclusions. It is broadly accepted that the ‘Suns’, or eras of Aztec cosmology, began and ended on the days of their respective names in the years 2-Acatl, the years of the great New Fire Ceremonies returning every 52 years. It has also been claimed that eclipses accompanied these repeated cataclysms marking the end of the successive Suns. Although no such statement appear in Aztec sources, different information may lead to the conclusion supported by Susan Milbrath that the Aztecs feared the end of their world would come with a solar eclipse on a day 4- Ollin, the day name of the fifth Sun of Aztec mythology. The proposition is e...

Historical & cultural astronomy, 2020

The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.

Medieval Encounters, 2017

This article analyses the relationship between text and image in one of the most important scientific manuscripts commissioned by Alfonso X the Learned, El Libro del Saber de Astrología (Ms. 156 BH Complutense University, Madrid). The main topic deals with the depiction of astrolabes in the four treatises devoted to this instrument in the codex, and the connexion established between the real astrolabes, the depicted ones, and the written sources used by the Alfonsine team.

How to cite Complete issue More information about this article Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Scientific Information System Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative

Anthropos, 2021

In ten chapters, Steven R. Gullberg presents the results of his archaeoastronomical research on sites around the city of Cuzco, former capital of the Inca empire. He begins with introducing his four main hypotheses (chap. 1), and continues with an overview about Andean and specifically the Inca past (chap. 2). The next chapter contains background information on the cultural context of astronomical practices among the Inca, like cosmology and rituals, the veneration of landscape features (rocks, outcrops, springs), and key elements of Inca society, politics, and economics including the infrastructure (chap. 3). In the following chapter, the organization of holy places and objects (guaca in Quechua) in and around Cuzco is described, and their arrangement along imaginary lines (called ceque). Gullberg discusses the history, purpose, and the nature of these places, their worship, and their association with different social groups within the city, the possible use for astronomical observations, and the interpretation of the ceque organization as a calendar. The chapter finishes with mentioning the scholarly controversies about the calendrical and astronomical functions of the Cuzco ceque and guaca (chap. 4). Next follows a chapter about celestial astronomy in general and the explanation of basic facts as well as of problems affecting the analysis of such observations, as for example the Earth's axis precession (chap. 5). In the following part, information on Inca horizon astronomy, the solar events observed (solstices, equinoxes, zenith passage) and objects used for these observations (usno platforms, pillars on the horizon, gnomons) is summarized from the extant literature. Gullberg ends this chapter with a look at the Inca calendar and at the observations of the moon and stars (chap. 6).

This paper offers a brief preliminary new interpretation of early Mexican history, embracing the absolute chronology of the Aztecs before the Spanish Conquest (1519-21). Its full text could clarify some enigmas of their calendar, with emphasis on the question of intercalation, by additional key dates that were recorded in both the Mexican and the Julian calendars. The previous "ages" of both the Aztecs and the Toltecs have been examined: the two lines of traditions and the corresponding intervals differ from each other, indicating different ancestral lands and/or migrations.