Rare discovery of Hebrew, Islamic and Christian inscriptions on a medieval astrolabe in Italy

2024-03-06T12:05:26.076Z

Highlights: Rare discovery of Hebrew, Islamic and Christian inscriptions on a medieval astrolabe in Italy. It is a vestige of the past, when Jews and Muslims, not content with observing the same skies, passed on the same instruments to do so. Its discovery, shared last week in the journal Nuncius, is a surprise: alongside Islamic inscriptions, Hebrew characters show that the precious tool, which once gave astronomers the time and positions of the stars, was used by scholars of both faiths.

Examining an 11th-century astrolabe in a museum in Verona, Italy, a Cambridge historian discovered that the instrument, which