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DER

GLO USFREUND

WISSENSCHAFTLICHE ZEITSCHRIFT

fur

GLOBEN-UNDINSTRUMENTENKUNDE

JOURNAL FOR

THE

STUDY OF GLOBES

AND RELATED INSTRUMENTS

Nr.35-37

REPORT

on the

Vlth INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM

OF CORONELLI SOCIETY

organized with the assistence

of

RIJKSMUSEUM "NEDERLANDS SCHEEPVAART MUSEUM"

Amsterdam

WIEN 1987

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- 9b -

FIORINI - REWARD

for articles

and monographs of

particular

value on old globes

During the

VI Coronelll Symposium

Mr. Vladlmlro Valerlo

addressed to

the

participants, after having Introduced the figure of Matteo Fiorlnl as a prominent

scholar In our

f ield

of

Interest

(see

the Introduction

to Mr.

Vale io's

paper on

the

Farnese

Atlas

here published) a

request of celebration

of

the

coming

centenary

of Florlni's works on old globes.

It

means, In a certain way, to celebrate

the birth

of our

f ield

of study.

We

suggest

that

a Commission should organize a

Fiorini reward for articles

and monographs of particular value on old globes. The prize might also be

periodically

assigned and the Societe Geograflca Italiana (first publisher of the

Fiorlnl's work)

and

other societies might

be

consulted to adhere to the

Initiative.

Vladrmlro

VALERIO

Rudolf

SCHMIDT

97

HISTORiOGRAPHIC AND NUMERICAL NOTES

ON

THE ATLANTE FARNESE

AND ITS CELESTIAL SPHERE

Fig. 18, 19

Vladlmlro Valerlo

Rlchlederebbe

un trattato a

parte

quella Ingegnosa

scoltura,

e forse un

glorno

l 'otterre,

per soddlsfazlone de

gll erudltl.

(F. Blanchlnl, La

Istarla

Unlversale,

1697)

First of

al i i

must pay

a

sort of debt

o f

gratitude to

a person whose

work

has

been and still Is a milestone In the history of ancient globes, which after his

publications soon became an autonomous discipline. His name Is

Matteo Florlnl

(1827-1901) who

was

professor of

theoretical geodesy

at

the

University

of

Bologna since 1860

(1

). He was also author of a

fundamental study

on map pro

jections which were viewed for

the

first t ime within

a

historical

background

(2).

Between 1893 and 1898 he gathered Information on old globes preserved In

Italy

making use of a form which was sent

to

Italian libraries, archives, Institutions

and

private collectors. The

Inquiry

was

a

consequence of

a

vote

expressed

during a sessIon of the first

Italian

Geographical

Conference

held In Genova In

1892. A

long

article

appeared

In

the

years

1893 and

1891t In

the "Bollettlno

della

Societe Geograflca Italiana" (3).

A

German revised edition

of this

paper

was

published

by

S. GUnther In 1895, and It

Is often

referred to as

Florlnl-GUnther

work on globes (It).

In 1899 a prominent study on old globes came to

l ight. The

book titled "Sfere

terrestrl

e

celestl

dl autore

Itallano

oppure fatte

0

conservate In Italia" Is the

first of

such a kind In the

world

(5)

and Is

much more

than

the

first national

catalogue

of globes (6). In fact, the pioneering work provided a fai r base for

several

publications and

nowadays

- though aged -

Is

still a

mine

for the

biblio

graphical Information gathered

In

the footnotes.

Florlnl's work has also been

Influencing

scholars who

didn't

know the original

Italian edition by the mean

of

the better known

"Terrestrial

and

Celestial

Glo

bes"

by

E.

L. Stevenson (7). It

Is

the

case

to read again what Stevenson wrote

In

the prefacel

"The

author makes In this place special mention o f his Indebtedness

to the

studies

of the distinguished Italian scholar, Professor Matteo Florlnl,

adding that with some propriety his name might have a

place

on the tit le page.

Had

there

not

been a

ready

access

to

his

Important

works, had

the Italian Geo

graphical Society

not

so graciously expressed

to

the author Its willingness

for

the

free

use of as much of his published Investigations as

might

be desired,

the preparation

of this

work necessarily

would have

extended over

a

conside

rable period of time" (8). After having made reference to Florlnl's book

Steven

son went on

writing:

"Not an Inconsiderable part of his descriptive

details

has

been

appropriated,

being given In

free

translation

or

In paraphrase, quotation

marks having

been

omitted".

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-

98-

The

success and

the

good

luck

of

Stevenson's work relegated

In

the

oblivion

the parent book by Florlnl; unfortunately prefaces are not always

carefully

read

out. It

Is really

a hard

job

to

find today

any

direct quotation

from Florlnl as well

as the mere appearance

of his works In

the l i terature of

non

Italian

publications.

We have also .to point out that Stevenson did

not

Improve everywhere Florlnl's

state of

knowledge.

For Instance, the

fifteen

pages devoted to the Atlante

Farnese In 1899

remain the best modern description of It, while

Stevenson

made

a step backward In his sixteen line

short description

(9).

Should

something

better

be found

In

the

present

work

It

comes

from

a

careful reading of Florlnl's

pages. The

circumstance clarify my

Indebtedness

to

him.

Coming now to

the

Farnese Atlas

and

Its globe,

It

Is really a

puzzling matter

where to

begin

with

In consideration of the

many

things to be presented

and

discussed and due to the manifold lines of research suggested by the SCUlpture. I

am

aware

- It must be said - thQt

there

are

at

leQst two ways o f approaching

the study of the Atlas

and Its

globe.

A

stylistic (or

hyconologlc) one

of which,

unfortunately, I have found no researches, and an astronomical one; due to my

own feeling

and competence I

will

only

deal with

the latter

waiting anxiously

for

a hyconologJc

study. The answers we may expect from

an

archaeological

approach

are related

basically to the age of the

actual

figuration of the

constellations as

they

appear

on

the

globe

and

may further

help In

dating the

birth

of such a kind of solid sphere

which

seems,

at

a

first glance, to go back to

not later

than first century B.C.

In spite of Its

fame

-

It Is quite often

cited here

and

there

as

we may

easily

detect

from

the wide

bibliography

collected

- the

Farnese

Atlas

has been

studied only once since

Its

appearance

In Rome

during

excavations carried

on In

the

middle of the l l . th century (10). The

Importance

of the

celestial

sphere has been undervalued In the last two centuries due to the

scant attention paid to It and

to

the

lack o f any serious study. We f ind

descrepancles even In the number of constellations registered In the globe (see

Appendix I).

This work

Is

only Intended to be a starting point for further studies, trying to

collect

and discuss as many

references

as possible on the subject and to

give

a

detailed

description of

the

sphere (see

Appendix 11).

It

Is

generally accepted that

Passerl's

"Atlas

Farneslanus"

provides the first

and best

systematic

account on the Atlas (11). As a

matter

of fact, It

Is

the only

work

quoted almost

everywhere. The statement Is wrong

In

both

aspects

(first

and

best). First of all

Passerl

himself

mokes In

the preface (preface

should

always be read) a frank

reference

to a previous study carried on by the

"Preclarlsslmo Presule"

Francesco Blanchlnl, work which

was

kindly transmItted

to him by A.F. Gorl, editor of the series In whIch Passerl's work was published

(12).

Furthermore,

Passerl'

Informes

us

that

the

"celeberrlmus

Casslnlus,

Chrlstlanlsslml

Galllarum Regis Astronomus"

(13)

accompanied Blanchlnl during

the Inspection

of

the globe In 1

.95,

and

the

leQrned men of Europe were

all

waiting for the

publication

of

their

valuable considerations. Passerl again tells

us

"Integro

volumlne Atlantem Farneslanum se InlustrQturum promise

rat

Francisco Blanchlnus" (14).

The first

report of

the joint examination of the

Atlas -

very rarely recorded

and

never

In the last hundred years - appeared In 1

.97,

only two years after the

- 99-

Casslnl travel

to

Rome (15). In that

publication

we also

find

the ' f1

rst printed

Image

of

the sculpture (1 l.). In the short description of the Atlas Francesco

Blanchlnl recalls to the reader the help of Casslnl and also mentions the

necessity of deeper

studies

on It. Unfortunately

Blanchlnl

died

In 1729 and

because his many duties at the Papal

court

he

failed

In

completing

Qnd

publishing the work he certainly started

writing

during

the first

decades of the

18th

century.

A

manuscript

titled "Globus Farneslanus"

Is

mentioned for

the first

t ime

In 1731

and

In his

official

biography

of 1735 among

the unpublished works

(17). The

same

manuscript

Is

stili

preserved

In

the Blblloteca Capltolare

at

Verona where his library and the complete body

o f

his works are kept (18).

We

leave

for a

while

Blanchlnl's manuscript

which

had

not the

opportunity

to Influence any further study for the

bad use

made by

Passeri

who was unable

either

to understand the astronomical

computations or

to reach Blanchlnl's

wide

historical knowledge.

In

the reconstruction of the hlstorlography of the

Farnese

Atlas we have to

mention

now

not

an actual

study

but what

Is

the best and most

Interesting representation

of the globe

ever

published. It

Is

a

drawing made

up

by

Martin Folkes

(1690-1754),

a

singular f igure of

earned

man, who was struck

by the celebrated globe he had the opportunity to see during his journey

through

Italy (19).

We

know he turned

archaeologist after

the Italian

tour.

The

Image appeared In 1739 In Richard Bentley's edition of

the

"Astro

nomlcon"

by Manlllo (20). It has

already

been registered In the

l i terature:

Thlele

reproduced It

In

1898

(21) and

It

has

recently

been recorded

as "anonymous" by

Deborah Warner (22). It

Is

almost strange

that

the latter Ignores the name of the

author

If

we consider that Bentley himself

tells us

the story

In

the preface (we

should

always

read

prefaces).

It

Is

useful

to

read again

his

words

for the

l ink

with

another copy of

the

Farnese globe I

will

discuss In a short

while:

"At

nuperrlme VIr

exlmlus

Martlnus Foulkes,

ut

alffs omnibus, sic

artlbus etlam

Mathematlcls Instructlsslmus, globl hulusceFarneslanl ectypum

summa

conformatum

cura

secum Roma

deportavlt;

et noblscum pro slngularl sua

humanltate,

summoque ad IIteras

promovendas

studiO,

benlgne communlcavlt"

(23). ThUS,

we

learn

the

Image was

drawn and

engraved In England after

the

Folkes' "ectypum". Furthermore Bentley Informs us that "Qulnetiam ne quid

forte

In eo descrlbendo

erraret

artlfex, Ipse

etlam tabulam

hanc ad

ect

ypum

suum

accuratlsslme exeglt"

(24).

The very singular drawing

does

not take

the globe

In perspective,

os

It has

always been done, but In a

true

stereographJc projection. Only the mathematical

skllness

of

Folkes could

afford

to reproduce

the

whole globe

in

a

precise geo

metric projection. It

Is worthy to

be

noted

that this projection maps circles Into

circles

and Is orthomorphlc,

well

flttlng for astronomical purposes (25). Due to

the

flrst property

- certainly

known

In

ancient world

-

the

astrolabe was based

on

stereographlc projection

(26).

We

cannot ascertain which

kind

of copy

the

"ectypum"

was -

It

was

likely

a

plaster

copy. Anywo"y, though no

copy

of this kind seems su r

viving

today In

England, an .Idea of the occuracy of the Folkes' globe may be recognized In the

Sir

HansSloane's

copy

of

the Atlante

Farnese globe which

Is to

be connected -

according

to me - to Folkes' "ectypum" (27). The

date

o f

the

Sloane copy should

not

be

before

1739

otherwise,

I suppose,

Bentley

had spoken of It, and

not

after

1754when Folkes died; 1740s

being

the

most likely date

(28).

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- 100-

Via Folkes the Fornese celestial sphere reached England and a

few

years

later Benjamln

Martin

briefly -

but clearly

expressing his

own opinion

- speaks

about

"a very

antique globe, which was

found In the ruins

of

ancient

Rome,

and

Is now

In the Museum of the Farneslan Palace, reserved as the most curios

Monument of Antiquity" (29).

Martin

also mentions a

copy "that

I have

by

me"

which Increases the number

of copies of

the

Farnese globe existing In England

In

the

middle

of

the 18th century.

Might

It be

the

engraving

appended

to

the

"Astronomlcon"

or

simply

the Sir Hans' copy? We don't know, but It Is curious

that

Martin

makes no

mention

of

Bentley

and

of

Folkes'

"ectypum".

In

spite

of

the confusion between

rcdlus and

diameter

of

the

globe he

made a

very

good

calculation

of

the

value of

the precession as It

Is

marked on the

globe:

"about

5,

which

shews

that

this globe might probably be made 360 Years after

the

Colure

was In the

Equinoctial Point"

(30).

This

conclusion as well as the following

dating of the globe "some years before the Birth of Christ"

and

the assumption

that the

equinoctial colure passed through the horn of

Aries

near 2200 years

before his t ime (I.e. about 430 B.C.) "with regard to the

Time and

Observations

of Hlpparchus", are all erroneous (31). At any rate, Martin provided a rare

attempt to date

the globe making use

of

the

value

of

the

precession so clearly

expressed in

the globe.

During the 18th century the Atlante Farnese

was

Included,

as we

have

already

seen In

Folkes'

case, among the obligatory stops

In the

tour through

Italy. Wlnckelmann described

some constellations of

the Farnese globe

In

his

"Monumentl Antlchl" (32) and

the

French astronomer Lalande mentlond the

Atlas he had

the opportunity

to see during his stay In Rome (33).

In

1813

the

Inte

'

rest

In

the

globe

was

renewed

In

the

occasion

of

the

French

translation of

the Almagest (34). In the preface (we must always read

prefaces)

the translator spends one page commenting the Farnese A Uas. He also gives a

few references and discusses

about

the Roman coin of

the

Emperor

Antonlnus

Plus In which Atlas bearing

the

sky Is shown. Halma, the translator, used the

coin as a

frontispiece

complaining that previous Illustrators

of

the

coin did not

pay the

due attention

to

the

globe

"sostenu par

un AUas parfaltement

semblable

au globe

de

marble

du

Palals

Farnese"

(35). More representations of the Farnese

atlas

were

promised to appear In the second volume

but,

unfortunately, Halma

failed

and

nothing of

the

Atlas and

Its globe appeared In the

next and

last

volume (36).

In

the

meanwhile

the

sculpture had reached Naples

together

with

the

whole

Farnese

collection

(37)

notwithstanding

the strong protest of Roman learned

men and against the will

ofthecardlnal

Alessandro Farnese (1520-1589). The

sculpture was reproduced In

white

porcelain In the

world

wide famous "Fabbrlca

dl Capodlmonte"

(38).

Since 1817 It

appeared In the guides

of

the Royal Borbo

nlc

Museum

treated

In a

rather

superficial description basically

drawn from

Passerl (39). The Image

of

the Farnese Atlas was also used as a

frontispiece

In a

Neapolitan geographical aUas (40).

In 1825 Inghlraml Inserted

In the volume of tables appended

to his "Monu

mentl

Etruschl" four views of the globe taken from Passe

rI's

copperplates with

the addition of a

few

mistakes due to oversights and pure astronomical

Ignorance (41).

Next

spoke of

the Atlas

In

1828

Gerhard and

Panofska

(42), In 1894

Denza

-101 -

(43),

In 1898 ' Thlele with

one of

the best historical

accounts

on the Farnese

Atlas (44), and cited It In

1899

Hlnkley Alien (45) and In 1903 Boil (46).

In

our

century no word has been added to that already said In

the

past. More

confusion

comes

from

unproved and

sometimes

Imaginary

dating. Stevenson

puts It 300 years

before

Christ (47), Lloyd Brown states categorically

"doubtless

of the

IV century

B.C." (48), De Smet

dates

It 200 years

B.C.

(49), according to

Fauser It Is a "romlsche Kople des ersten Jahrhunderts vor Chrlstus" (50), while

Warner

-

combining

Florlnl's

source with

Fauser's

opinion

- s ay s

that "The At

lante

Farneslano

Is

thought

to

be a

Roman

copy made

In

the

second

century

A.D.

of a Greek original from the third century B.C." (51). Aujac prefers to say

"rlproduzlone romana

dl

un modello ellenlstlco" (52) which Is a gracious way to

move the problem,

with

that sentence she covers a range

of

about

400 years,

and

the

same words are used In 1985 by Dllke (53). I

will not

discuss

further

of

many more -

sometimes

worthy - contribution

and only

record

some o f

them

(54).

Let's

come

back now to the

"preclarlsslmo" Blanchlnl.

The

manuscript study

on the

Farnese

aUas was actually printed In 1752 only two years

later

than the

bad account by Passerl appeared (55). As far as I know nobody records the

publication

which

Is

here . presented for the first t ime (56).

The

uneasily

readable manuscript (see my note 18) lacks almost completely

Its

Importance.

The

six

copperplates appended

to

the work are those

executed

under

the direct

control

of Blanchlnl

himself

and

first

published

In Passerl's

book

with the

Inter

cession

of

Gorl. Gluseppe Blanchlnl, nephew o f Francesco and

editor

of the

posthumous publication, only

added

the

Image

of

the

Antonlnus' coin

In the first

plate

and renumbered

the

Images

from

one

to

seven.

For my study the

most Interesting

chapters are the first two, being

the

others mainly devoted

to

historical and mythical descriptions

of

the asterlsms.

It

Is

the case

to remind that the

author's

aim

was to demonstrate

that

the f igura

t ion

of

the sky roots

down

Into the mythical-historical conquest of the Golden

Fleece.

In the first

chapter

Blanchlnl makes reference to the said Antonlnus' coin

and

suggests that

"eadem

statua,

nl

fallor"

(57)

Is

represented

In

the

coin;

the

resemblance Is one more evidence

of

the construction

of

the globe under the

reign of

Antonlnus

(138-161).

Furthermore

he

observes the

asterlsms follow

the

indications given

by Eudoxus, Aratus,

Clcero,

Germanlcus and

other translators

and are positioned occordlng to the celestial observations

of

Hlpparchus

and

Ptolemy

(58).

The

second

chapter deals

with

star position which

he

compares with

ptole

my's

coordinates successively checked

with Flamsteed's

catalogue of

stars

of

1690.

Blanch1nl finds that the

ever

visible circle

Is

positioned at f i f ty

degrees

which

leads

to the

horizon of Macedonia,

the place

where Aratus

worked

- as

Blanchlnl points

out

Then,

In order

to

date the

globes he computes

the

value of the

precession of

the equinoxes. The phenomenon was discovered by

Hlpparchus

around the middle of the 2nd century

B.C.

and was never

referr

.

ed

to

In

any

astronomical

treatise before Ptolemy as late as 150

A.D. (60). The

first

conclusion we may draw from this

Is

that It Is absolutely Impossible - unless we

will discover In

the

future other sources preceedlng

Hlpporchus which

speaks

clearly

of

the

precession - that the prototype - should there exist one - be

8/11/2019 Atlas Farnesianus

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-102 -

before

the

Almagest.

Blanch

1nl

goes on

reckoning the actual position of

Aries

noting that the

Vernal

colure

passing

through

It

Is

actually a circle of right ascension. Thus

the

distance of

this

cercle from

the vernal

paint Is about

3

The figure Is very near

to

the value of right ascension o f Aries' horn deduced from the

coordinates

given In the

Almagest ('1 ). I t Is

the case

to

remind

that Ptolemy

used

ecllptlcal

coordinates latitude and longitude (62),

whllest

modern astronomers give

equatorial coordinates right ascension and declination.

To

be sure,

Blanchlnl

mokes

more

controls

In

the star

In

the

neck

of

Pollux

(called .

B

y

Bayed,

the stars In the rear horn of Capricorn, the star In the beach

of Swan and the

brightest

star' between the shoulders of Eagle, and finds that all

agree

with the Almagest. The

same precession o f

about

3 Is, of

course,

registered In the Autumnal p,olnt, showing that the exact registration o f

the

precession

Is

much more

than

a

coincidence.

Blanchlnl's conclusions are that IIsculptum fulsse hoc marmor, & Antonlno Plo

oblatum ad ornamentum Blbllothecae, una cum flxorum Cotalogo

per

ptole

maeum exacto ad

ejus ImperII

Epocham"

(63). These are Blanch1nl's

words

and

thoughts.

Nowadays we are

not

so confident In figures as Blanchlnl was, because the

more

accuracy

used In taking measures and

the

deeper

acquaintance we

have

with the Almagest

and Its

problems, even If,

It

must

be sold, I

undervalued diff i

culties In my

first

look at the Atlas In 1980 (64). Blanchlnl and Casslnl Ignored -

or

pretended

to Ignore

tha t

the

star catalogue

of Ptolemy

was

affected

by a

mean error of one degree In

longitude;

the

error

leads to define the sky of

about

75

years

earlier

than

Ptolemy That

means

that the

comparison

with

-Flamsteed

catalogue

was

not

accurately done.

Furthermore

at

the time

of

Blanchlnl people did

not

work with

statistics

and mean standard deviation and

the author

took

for

granted

that

circles were

exactly sculptured as

true

circle

and

that

two

tropics were pasltloned

at 2330'

as

It

was

In his

own time. The

last

arbltrarlous

assumption

Is wrong,

being the actual position of

tropics

on the

sphere

slightly

higher,

even than the Ptolemy's

value (I.e. 2351'). I found

that

(see my

Appendix 11) the

two

tropics,

as

well as all the circles

on

the globe, are

not perfect

circle

and have not a constant distance from the equator. Tropics

are positioned at

about

25 which

Is

one degree more than the value

generally

accepted

In

the ancient world

(66).

Anyway, we must

note

that one

degree on

the

Farnese globe means

five mllllmeters

only In

length, the thickness

o f

the

sculptured circles varying from three

to

six mllllmetersl

As a

consequence

all the measures given

by

Blanchlnl are

defective

and, In

particular, the value of the

precession

Is

a

bit higher and

does

not

f i t

exactly

with Ptolemy's

coordinates

(67).

The two

polar circles

-

according

to the

ancients

the ever

visible and

the never

visible

circles

-

are

actually

positioned

at 5643' Nand 5526'

S.

That

means

that the horizon for which the globe

Is

constructed

has a

latitude

of

about

3330'. Should that position be true (I mean

In

the will

of the

author

and

not

a

consequence

of chance)

the palar circles

are

referred to

Middle

Phoenlcla

(68),

even If we have to

warn

that differences

In

latitude

among Phoenlcla, Alessandrla, Rhodes or Macedonia lead to a

slight

displacement o f

circles

on the sphere, displacement

which Is

as higher as the

mean error

I have

found out

In

measuring

the

circles

(see

Appendix 11).

-103 -

In spite of the

litt le

discrepancies I have found In the

study

carried on by

Blanchlnl (and Cassln ) my figures and my observations

don't contradict

the

Almagest and don't reject Blanchlnl's opinion. On the contrary, as a conclusion, I

list

a

few elements which confirm the presence of the Almagest

In

the globe,

and Its construction around 150 A.D.:

1.. the presence of Balance among the constellations was

unknown

to

Aratus

and

Hlpparchus, It

only appeared In Western culture

at the

beginning of

our

Era

6911

2..

the

precession of equinoxes

Is

very clearly expressed In the globe and

Is

fully described

only

by Ptolemy

after

the now lost work by Hlpparchus

on

the "Displacement of solstlclal points";

3 .. In

the

Almagest Ptolemy made a few comparison among declinations

o f

some stars and

found

that the star In

the

left

hand of Virgo

(Spica)

was

north to the equator at the

time

of Hlpparchus and

was

south to It

In his

own

time. The left

hand

of

Virgo Is

doubtless south to the equator In the

Farnese globe (70);

4 - the construction of the whole globe as well as the relative position of

constellations

are

too exactly done and they Imply a scientific

support

which only the Almagest

provided In

the Ancient

World.

The Phenomenon

by Aratus

give

a good description of the outline of each

constellation

and

of

their relative position but are not sufficient

at

all for

reproducing

the

sky In a rather

mathematlcal way;

5 - the

horizon of

Middle Phoenlcla - should It

not

be a chance ..

Is of

basic

Importance

In

the

Almagest

for ptolemy

computed

planetary

phases

expressely for that

latitude

(71 ). Furthermore the position of Canopus (the

star

In

the

southern steering-oar

of

Argo)

well

agrees

with this never

visible circle.

The

Fornese globe

Is to

be

considered,

according to

me,

an

original piece

of

science

and ,

art, not

a

mere copy from an ancient

-

but how old,

I

wonder

..

original.

The

globe represents the state of knowledge

at

the

time

of

the

Almagest even If It may show -

and why not

- In some details a spurious and

different tradition.

In fact It embodies

the

astronomical knowledge

of antiquity

as the Almagest does.

Toomer

says that "the star

description

pose numerous Individual problems,

only a

few

o f

which are touched

In

the footnotes. Ideally one

should provide a

reconstruction of the outline o f each

constellation

as It appears In

Ptolemy's

star

globe This would be an

Interesting

and valuable

enterprise"

(72). I

think

the

Farnese globe

furnishes many answers to the question.

APPENDIX I - On

the

constellations

The

constellations represented on the globe are certainly 44 and might be 45

If we recognise the

Sagitta partially

hidden under

the wing

of Clgnus. Speaking

of the

Sagitta

Aratus says

that

"nearby fIys ' the

blrd" (verse 313). The

Ursa

Major

was

certainly sculptured

as Its

head Is still visible between the summer

colure and the hole which demaged the northern constellations. The

third

one

not recorded

so far

Is

Canis

Minor which Is

hidden .. but actuallly

sculptured

-

8/11/2019 Atlas Farnesianus

6/17

-104 -

under the

right

hand of

Atlas.

Compared with the Almagest only Trlangulus and Equuleus are really wan

ted.

The

absence of the first Is really

Inexplicable

being

recorded

since

Aratus,

while

the

litt le

horse Is a

secondary

constellation near Pegasus and often

confuses with

It. The

lack

of

Ursa Minor Is

due to the

said

hole

In the

upper

part

of

the globe and Plsels Austrlnus

Is

covered by the shoulders

of

the giant.

There Is one asterlsm not recorded In the Almagest which might be a pure

Roman InventiOn something like a small throne between Cancer and Ursa Major.

Blanchlnl

and Passerl

called

It

"Cathedra

Casslopea" and

the

latter

says

that

It

Is

formed

by four

stars In the front legs

of

Ursa, where

nowadays there Is placed

the Lynx. Other people

Identify

It with

the

"Throne of Cesar", a comet visible In

Italy at

the time

of Augustusbut we find no

mention

In Vltruvlus (Ten books on

Architecture,

IX, 3, 4 and 5).

Northern constellations:

1 Ursa Major

2 Cathedra Casslopea

3

Draco

4 Cepheus

5 Bootes

6 Corona

Borealls

7 Hercules (Man kneeling)

8 Lyra

9 Clgnus

10

Casslopea

Zodiac:

20 Aries

21 Taurus

22

GeminI

23 Cancer

24 Leo

25 Virgo

Southern

Constellations:

32

Cetus

33

Orlon

34 Erldanus

35 Lepus

36 CanIs Major

37 Canis

Minor

38 Argo

11

Perseus

12

Aurlga

130phlucus

14 Serpens

15 Sagitta

16

Aqulla

17 Delphlnus

18 Pegasus

19 Andromeda

26 LIbra

27 Scorplus

28 SagIttarius

2'J Capricorn us

30 Aquarius

31 Pisces

39 Hydra

40

Crater

41

Corvus

42 Centaurus

43 Lupus

44

Ara

45 Corona Australls

APPENDIX - On the size and measures of the

globe.

Due

to

the relief

of the

constellation and circles all

the

measures are

to be

taken "with

a grain

of

salt"; errors

of

a

few

mllllmeters

are to

be

considered.

All

the measures here reported must be

read

"about", even

If

the percentage of

error In the readings Is very low.

Circumference =2030 mm

Radius = 323 mm

-105 -

One degree

(of

great

circle)

= ,6 mm

Tropics

and polar circles have not a

constant

dIstance from

the

equatQr. For

Instance,

the circle of ever visible

stars

varies from 314 mm

to

329 mm,

and

the

tropic of

CaprIcorn

varies

from

138

mm to

146 mm. In order to f ind

the

theorlc

mean

circle

which annuls

the

discrepancIes

of the sculpture

I have calculated a

weighted mean assigning

to

the

value along

the colures mQre

reliabIlity.

Tropic

of

Cancer

=

25

30'

N

Tropic of

Capricorn =

25 06' S

Obliquity

of

the ecliptic = 25 18'

(2351'

In the

Almagest)

Ever visible circle = 6

43'

N (horizon for qJ = 317')

Never vIsible circle = 552(,' S (horizon for qJ:: 3434')

Right ascension of

the

Aries' horn

=

5 09' (307' from the Almagest)

The

same value on the Autumnal point = 5 19'

Width of the

Zodiac

=1 3 29'

SUMMARY

The object of my research Is the celestial sphere supported on the shoulders

of

the

so called

Atlante

Farnese. We are dealing with a well known piece quite

often cited here

and there but, In spite of Its fame, It has

only

been studied

once

since Its

modern

appearance

In Rome In

the

middle of

the 16th century. The

Importance

of

the celestial sphere has been

undervalued

In the last

two

centuries due to the scant

attention

paid to It and to

the

lack of any serious

study.

The

present

contribution

Is divided

Into three parts. The first

Is

devoted to a

brief

commemoration

of

the forgotten father

of

the history

of

globes and

their

makers, Matteo Florlnl.

The

second one provides a hlstorlographlcal account on

the Farnese Atlas

starting from the

1695 examination by J.D. Casslnl and F.

Blanchlnl.

Then I present

my

latest observations,

true

measures of

the

rings,

the

position

of the

constellations

ond a passible attribution.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I wish

to

express my

gratitude

to the Soprlntendenza

Archeologlca

at Naples

for

the permIssion

to

study the

Atlas.

I also

thank Renata

Cantllena, Director

of

the Archaeological Museum of Naples,

for

more

than enthusiastic

support

to

my

study; Antonlo

Russo, consegnee

at

the

same Museum, and

Blaglo Glacola,

attached

to

the library

of the

Soprlntendenza

who

made

any

effQrt to

make

easy my work.

Invaluable

help

I received In the Blblloteca Nazlonale of Naples which Is

extraordinarily

rich In

any

field of study.

Marla

Grazla Pasquallttl and

Anna

marla RQmano, Director and

Vice-director

respectively,

allowed

me

to handle

rare

material.

Patrlzla Nocera,

as

falrl ly

as

usual, was of

great support

' ln biblio

graphical researches. I owe to

the

kindness of Anna BIIII,

of

the

Brancacclana

8/11/2019 Atlas Farnesianus

7/17

-106

-

section of

the

Library)

Information on the periodicals

of

the Academle des

Sciences.

Translations from latln are due to the patience of my wife Costanza Glala

nella and

to

the acumen

of

Francesco Brescla, any error

In

the meaning remains

mine.

Last I want to point out

that

all the bibliographical material collected and

discussed In the

footnotes

has been found In Neapolitan libraries which

consti

tute

a tremendous heritage of

our

National

history.

NOTES

( 1) Florlnl's biography appeared In Coslmo BERTACCHI, Geografl ed

esploratorl Itallanl contemporanel

(Mllano 1929), 93-104. Unfortunately

there

Is

no mention

of

his works on old globes, basic attention having been

paid to his fundamental studies on map projections.

( 2) Matteo FIORINI, Le

projezlonl

delle carte

geograflche

(Bologna 1881 ),

text

+ atlas with

11

tables.

( 3) Matteo FIORINI) Le

sfere cosmograflche

e speclalmente

le sfere terrestrl.

In: BoIlettlno della

Societe Geograflca Itallana

(1893)

862-888

and (1894)

121-131,271-281,331-349,415-435.

( 4) Slegmund GONTHER) Erd- und Hlmmelsgloben, Ihre Geschlchte und Kon

struktlon. Nach dem Itallenlschen

Matteo Florlnl frel

bearbeltet (Leipzig

1895).

(

5)

Matteo

FIORINI,

Sfere

terrestrl

e

celestl dl autore Itallono oppure

fatte

0

conservate In Italla (Roma 1899) . ..

( 6) Recently Peter VAN DER KROGT, Old Globes In the Netherlands. A cata

'Iogue

of terrestrial

and

celestial

globes made prior

to

1850 and preserved

In

Dutch collections

(Utrecht 1984)

unaware of

Florlnl's

work

- In

fact

he

does not mention It either In the literature or In

the

preface where he

speaks

of

the

"Inventory per

country" - only refers

to

Stevenson's book

as

the

first

Inventory

of

pre 1800 globes.

On

the contrary, see the quotations

from

Stevenson referred

to

In

my note 8.

( 7) Edward Luther STEVENSON, Terrestrial and Celestial Globes.

Their history

and

construction

Including a consideration

of

their value as aids In the

study

of

geography

and

astronomy,

2 vols.

(New

Haven 1921,

reprint

New

York and London 1971).

( 8) STEVENSON, Terrestrial and Celestial Globes 1: xx (note 7).

(

9)

FIORINI,

Sfereterrestrl

e

celestl 9-23 (note 5).

STEVENSON, Terrestrial

and Celestial Globes 1 :

15 (note 7).

(10)

The

modern

history

of

the

Atlas

and Its

finding are

rather

complicated.

We

don't know exactly

when and

where

It

was discovered we

only certainly

know

that

Cardinal Alessandro Farnese

bought It from the antiquarian

Paolo del

Bufalo

on February 27, 1st.2

as It

Is recorded In a

document

referred to

In

Documentl Inedltl per servlre alia storla

del Musel

d'ltalla,

4

vols. (Roma

1878-1880),

1 :

for

that

document

see also

Rodolfo

LANCIANI,

Storla

degll scavl dl Roma e notlzle

Intorno

le

collezlonl

romane

dl antlchlte, 4 vols. (Roma

1902-1913),

2 : 163. Since Its famous owner

It

(11)

(12)

(13)

(14)

(15)

(16)

(17)

-107

-

has been

called "Atlante

Farnese". I also think the

first description of

the

FarneseAtlas may be recognised In

Stefano

Wlnandus PIGHIUS, Hercules

Pradlclus,

seu principIIs luventutls

vlta et peregrlnatlo

(Antwerpen 1587),

360-361;

Plghlus

(1520-1604)

saw

the

Atlas In

15

.75

during

his

tour

through

Italy accompanying the son

of

the Duke de Cleves. In the

de

scription he

made

of the Atlas Is

said

that

It

was "In vlnea Stephanl

Buballj

repertam" (discovered In '

the

property

of Stefano del Bufalo)

and the

Farnese Atlas -

as

we have seen - was sold by Paolo del Bufalo. Is It only a

coincidence

of

family

names?

Anyway,

It

Is

certainly Incorrect the

opinion

of

Raymond VINCENT, Les Antiques. In: Le Palals Farnese, 3 vols. (Rome

1981), 2 : 335-336 who recognise In

the

bust of Atlas described by

Aldrovandl

(see

my

note 22)

the

actual Farnese

Atlas

and gives

as

a

lost

piece the sculpture sold

to

the Farnese In 1562. It

Is

just the contrary. The

confusion among

the two

atlases (the bust and

the

Farnese one)

dates

1879 (see DocumenU

Inedltl, 2:

v-vI).

Glovannl

Battlsta

PASSERI,

Atlas

Farneslanus marmoreus Inslgne

vetustatls

monumentum commentarlo (Flrenze 1750),80 p.ages + 6 plates.

PASSERI, Atlas Farneslanus 6 (note 11). The volume

Is

the third of Thesau

rus Gemmarum

Antlquarum

Astrlferarum,

edited by Anton

Francesco GORI.

"The

celebrated Casslnl astronomer of the Christian king of France",

PASSERI, Atlos Farneslanus 78

(note 11).

News on the Casslnl's

voyage

through Italy are recorded In Bernard de FONTENELLE, Eloges des Acade

mlclens

morts

de puis 1718 jusq'en 1739. In: Oeuvres de Monsieur de F

onte

nelle (Paris 1742), 5:

322-365

esp. 358 ("En 1695 M. Casslnl f1t un voyage

en

Italle")i

and In Jacques CASSINI, Observations astronomlques

faltes

dans

les voyages de France

et d'ltalle

en 1694, 1695 and 1696. In:

Hlstolre

de

I'Academle Royale des Sciences 7 (1729) esp. 497

where

the young Casslnl

wrlt.es "nous e Rome le 29 Mars".

"Blanchlnl

pramlsed

to

publish a

complete

book on

the

globe", PASSERI,

Atlas

Farneslanus 78

(note 11).

.

Francesco BIANCHINI, La

Istorla

Unlversale provata

con monumentl,

e

flgurato con slmboll degll antlchl (Roma 1(97), chapter 28

titled

"Espe

dlzlonl mllltarl In Colchlde, e In Troja con vantaggl, non tanto degll statl dl

Grecla, quanto

degll

studj

piu gravl". The work was reprinted by

Antonlo

Gluseppe BARBAZZA (Roma 1747) who

re-engraved

the lost plates of the

first edition whose author was

the

famous engraver Pier Sant Bartoll

(

1635-1700).

BIANCHINI, La Istorla Unlversale (second edition) 367 (note 15). Details

of

the constellations ore reproduced throughout the

book: Orlon

253,

Bootes

284, Aquarius 296, Argo 309, Aries, Taurus and Perseus 353.

It

Is

curious -

to

note

that there

Is

no

trace

of

the

Fornese Atlas In

the

most

Important

collection

of antiquities

published In Rome In the last quarter

of

the 16th century: Glovan Battlsta de' CAVALlERI, Antlquarum

statuarum

urbls Romae, 2 vols. (Roma

1585-1594) with

200 Images most

of them

token from the Farnese collection.

Sclplone MAFFEI, La Verona lIIustrata (Verona 1731),

reprinted

In BIAN

CHINI, La Istorla Unlversale (1747, my note 15), In which Maffel speaks

about a manuscript "sopra globo dl marmo che

51

conserva In Palazzo

8/11/2019 Atlas Farnesianus

8/17

-

108-

Farnese: Globus Farneslanus,

& in

eo rudlmenta

Astronomlae,

chronologlae,

&

Hlstorla

aetatls Herolcae,

a Graecls ad nos transmlssa"; and Alessandro

MAZZOLENI, Vlta dl Monsignor Francesco Blanchlnl Veronese (Verona

1735),125.

(18) The

existence of

the

manuscript In

the Blblloteca Capltolare Is

,

given by

FIORINI,

Sfere terrestrl

e

celestl 11

(note 5), who

presented

and discussed

Its contents.

I thank

the Direction af the Blblloteca Capltolare at

Verona

for the

kindness In

supplying

me a

complete microfilm of the

manuscript

(Cod. Ms.

CCCLXXV).

(19)

Martin

Folkes was born

October

29, 1690.

At the

. age of

twentythree he

was admitted a

fellow

of the Royal

Society.

In 1723, the president, Sir

Isaac

Newton,

appointed him one of his vice-presidents and was

similarly

honoured by

Newton's successor

Sir

Hans

Sloane.ln

1741

Sir

Hans resigned

the presidency, and Folkes was unanimously elected In his place. In 1750 he

was president of the

Society of

Antiquaries and died on

28th

June 1754.

During

his

tour

In

Italy

In

the

years

1733-35 he examined many

of

the

best

furnished cabinets of the Country. In that occasion he paid a

visit

to the

Farnese Palace In Rome

with

Its extraordinary

collection

of

antiquities.

(20)

M. Manllll Astronomlcon

ex recensione et cum

notls Rlchardl

Bentlell

(London 1739).

(21) Georg THIELE,

Antlke Hlmmelsbllder. Mlt

Forschungen zu

Hlpparchos,

Aratos und

selnen

F ortsetzern

und

Beltragen

zur Kunstgeschlchte des

Sternhlmmels (Berlin 1898), 27, f ig. 5

with

the caption "Foulkes' nach

GlpsabguB angefertlgte Zelchnung". Pages 19-42 are

devoted

to the de

scription

of

the Atlante

Farnese

of

which

he

also

reproduces nine

Images.

See also

Frltz

SAXL, La

fede negll astrl (Torlno

1985),

f ig.

138.

(22). Deborah J. WARNER, The Sky Explored. Celestial

Cartography 1500-1800

(Amsterdam 1979), 278-279.

The

author

also. finds

stylistic similarities

between

Blaeu's

globe of 1616-22

and

the

Farnese

globe, similarities

which

I

cannot recognise.

She deeper discusses

about

It In the

description

of the

1616 Blaeu globe

(30-31).

The

Information

given In the

note

are

not

correct:

the Atlas was bought In 1562 and

not

from

Bernardlno

de' Fab"

(see my note 10).

Furthermore,

the

description by

UlIsse ALDROVANDI(

Delle Statue Antlchl

(Roma

1550)

appended

to

Luclo MAURO,

Antlchlta

della

cltta

dl Roma (Roma 1556), she uses as a reference,

Is

referred to a

"busto grande dl atlante

senza braccla, ne

vlso"

(great

bust of

atlas,

armless and wanting

the face) which

can hardly be

alike

the Farnese Atlas;

see THIELE,

Antlke Hlmmelsbllder

20 and

f ig.

1

taken from the Codex

Plghlanus (note 21).

(23) "The

stlmated Sir Martin

F olkes,

very

learned In

every

art as

well as

In

mathematics, brought from

Rome a

very carefully

made

relief

copy

(ectypum) of the

globe and

due to

his

peculiar humanity he kindly commu

nicated to us for promoting historical studies", BENTLEY, M. Manllll Astro

nomlcon

xv-xvi

(note 20).

(24) "In order that the craftsman did not

fall

In describing It he (Folkes) himself

drew the table very exactly from his model", BENTLEY, M. Manllll

Astron

nomlcon

xvi

(note 20).

(25) "Since

any

circle

on

the

sphere remains a circle on

the projection

It

Is

(26)

(27)

(28)

(30)

(31)

(32)

(33)

(34)

-

109-

particularly useful In

graphical

solutions In f ield

astronomy", quoted

from

J.A. STEERS, An

Intraductlon

to the Study of

Map Prajectlons. 15th ed.

(Landon 1970) 52.

On the

knowledge

In ancient world o f

stereographlc

projection and Its use

see OUo NEUGEBAUER, A

History of Ancient Mathematical Astronomy,

3

vals. (Berlln/Heldelberg/New York 1975),2:

868-879.

We

know that

Folkes

was

In

Sir

Hans Sloane's consideration and

friend of

him and successor In the presidency

o f

th Royal SOCiety (see my note 19).

The

Sloane

copy

of

the

Farnese

globe

Is

a

drawing

on a sphere

now

kept

In

the British Library (Maps G.30). Unfortunately, I was not able to

get

any

Information

on that sphere

(diameter,

structure,

age,

nature of

the

drawing, bibliography,

etc.),

I only owe to the kind trouble of Dr.Helen

Wallls three slides of smaller

parts

of the

globe.

In one of

his

we may read

"Ex

Prototyp. Farneslano

cujus

diameter Ped.".

A date Is

Indicated

In A.D. BA YNES-COPE, The Study and Conservation o f

Globes. In:

Der Globusfreund 33-34

(1985)

1-80

esp. 34 and

fig.

5.

The

author reports In

the

figure the date "ca 1750" while In the text he argues

that the Atlante Farnese

facsimile was

"specially

made

In

Italy Co

1740 for

Sir Hans Sloane", but unfortunately he does

not

explain his sources. I only

wonder why Sir Hans should have asked a

copy from

Rome having at his

disposal

the carefully made

lIectypum"

by

his

friend Martin

Folkes.

The

matter needs further studies which may only be carried on In the British

Library and the British Museum.

Benjamln MARTIN,

The description

o f

both

Globes, the

Armlllary Sphere

and

Orrery.

2nd ed. (London

no

date),

esp.

112-113.

I

owe

this

reference

to

the kindness o f

Mr. Rudolf

Schmldt.

Martin

says

that the globe

"Is

12

Inches In

Diameter" which Is about 31

centlmenters

while the actual radius o f the globe Is

about

32

centlmenters

and

the true

value o f

the

precession

on the

sphere

Is about

5

08'

(see

Appendix 11).

.

Martin uses for his calculations the value o f

71

years

per

degree of

preces

sion

but it Is

not

historically correct

to use

modern acquisitions and tools to

understand

the

past. He also falls In positioning the activity of Hlpparchus

around

the middle

of

the 4th century

B.C.,

while

It

Is

- and

certainly was in

Martin's time - well known Hlpparchus was

active

in

the

2nd

century

B.C.;

these make

wrong all Martin's conclusions.

Johann Joachlm WINCKELMANN, Monumentl Antlchl Ineditl splegatl ed

Iltustratl (Roma 1767), 1 : 12, 273. ,

Jerome de

LALANDE,

Voyage d'un

en

Italle

fa i t dans les annees

1765 & 1766,8 vols. (Paris 1769), 4 : 162-163. Speaking of the atlas he says

"ce globe est tres

remarquable

par

son

antlqulte, c'est le

seul

monument

astronomlque ou Pon

alt trouve

les

constellations

a

la manlere

des

Anciens;

M. Blanchlnl a

fa i t

graver ce globe

avec

un commentalre

interessant".

The

astronomer

Lalande

was

one of

the

few who

knew

the Blanchlnl's

study

and the

Images of

the

Farnese

Atlas.

Nlcolos HALMA, Composition Mathematlque de Claude

Ptolemee,

tradulte

pour la

premiere

fols

du

grec en sur

les

manuscrlts orlglneaux de

la Blbliotheque Imperlale de Paris (Paris 1813), 1 : esp. LV.

8/11/2019 Atlas Farnesianus

9/17

-

110-

(35) A

description

of

the Important

coin

of

Antonlnus Plus appeared In Paolo

Alessandro MAFFEI, Gemme antichi figurate, 3 vols. (Roma 1707-09),

3:

191-206, esp. 203; Maffel, who dates the coin 158 A.D., reproduces In a

beautiful engravIng

the

two

faces

of the cain which

was

kept

In

the

personal museum of

Marcantonlo

Sabbatlnl. Then Francesco Blanchlnl

related for the first time the coin to the

Farnese

Atlas

(see my notes

55-57). One of. the copies now In the

Cabinet

des Medallles

at

the

Blbllo

theque Natlondle

of

Paris Is described In Henry COHEN, Description hlsto

rlque des monnols frappees sous

l'Emplre

Romaln

(reprint

Leipzig

1930),2:

3l.l.-367;

I

owe

this reference

to

the kindness

of

Renata Cantllena.

Recently spoke

of

the coin and reproduced It Glorglo T ABARRONI, La

poslzlone degll equlnozl sulla

sfera

dell ' Atlante Farnese. In: Co.elum 24

(1956)

169-174,

esp. 173 and fig. 4.

(36) The second volume

of

the French translation of the Almagest (see my note

34) was publ ished In 1816 and bears the

portrait of

the

new

kind

to which

the

book

Is dedicated.

(37) On

the transport of the

Farnese collection

to

Naplessee

A.

Gonzales

PA

LACIOS,

trasporto

delle

statue

farneslane do Roma a Napoll. In: Antologla

dl Belle

Artl

6 (1978). 168-174. The Atlas reached Naples only In 1800

having

been ten years In the workshop

of Carlo

AlbacJnl In Rome

who

was

encharged of the

restoration of

the sculptures before the shipment

to

Naples, see Alfonso de FRANCISCIS, Restaurl dl

Carlo

AlbacJnl a statue del

Museo Nazlondle

dl

Napoll. In: Samnlum 19 (1946) 96 and following.

(38) A photograph

of

a

copy

now In a private

collection at

Vienna has been

graciously sent

me

from

Mr. Rudolf Scnmldt already thanked

In

my

note

7:'1. No

copy of that porcelain Is

so

far recorded

In Naples.

(39) :rhe

first

guide Is by GloVambattJsta FINA TI,

Jl

regal Museo

Bornlco

(Napoll

1817),

2 1264-267,

of which

several edlUons appeared In the

19th

(2nd ed.

In

.1819), Francesco ALVINO, Descrlptlon .des monuments les plus

Interessants du Musee Royal Bourbon (Napoll 1841), 128.

An

enlarged

description 'by the same FINA TI appeared .n: Real Museo Borbonlco (Napoll

1829) 5 I tab. 52 with four poges

of

comment. The same copperplate was

reproduced

by Francesco GARGIULO, Recuell des Monumens les plus

Interessans du Musee National de Naples (Napoll no date). The list may

well continue as

.the

Atlas Is

obviously

mentioned In

any

Italian

and

foreign

guides up

to

our days.

(40) The

title,

graphically Inserted within a large sphere on the shoulders of

Atlas, Is "Atlante dl Geografla

Moderna In 30

carte dell'Abbate Lulgl

Galantl dellneato

da Glosue Russo Ingegnere Geografo", Napoll

1834-36.

The frontispiece Is reproduced In Vladlmlro VALERIO, Atlantl Napoletanl

del Dlclannoveslmo secolo,

1806-1860 (NapoIl1980),

flg.5.

(41) Francesco INGHIRAMI,

Monumentl

Etruschl e dl

altre

antlche Nazlonl

(Flesole 1825), 6 : 9-11, and Monumentl Etruschl che servono dl corredo a

tutta l'Opera

(Flesole 182&),

figs. T,

U, V, X. The four plates

are

drawn

from Passe rI's Images but the author cancels Inadvertltely the precession

and

slmplyfles the figures.

(42) E. GERHARD, Th. PANOFSKA, Neopels antlke Blldwerke

(Stuttgart/Tubln

gen 1828),98.

- 111 -

(43) Francesco DENZA, Globl

celestl della

Specola

Vatlcana.

In:

Publlcazlonl

della Specola

Vatlcana

4 (1894) xvII-xxIII, esp.

xxi-xxIII where the

author

reports

a

description

sent

to

him by Modestlno

DEL

GAIZO. The Inclusion

of

the Farnese Atlas description

Is

due

to

the presence In the Specola

Vmlcana

of two plaster

copies

of the celestial

sphere.

(44) THIELE,

Antlke

Hlmmelsbllder 19-42 (note 21).

(45) Richard H1NCKLEY ALLEN, Star names

their

Lore and Meaning (New

York

1963, unabridged

republication of the

work

first

published In 1999 under

the

tit le

"Stars-names

and

their

Meaning"),

42.

According

the author the

globe

Is

"supposed

to

be a

copy of

the sphere

of

Eudoxus, and perhaps

antedating

Ptolemy".

(46) Franz BOLL, Sphaera. Neue grlechische Texte und Untersuchungen zur

Geschlchte der

Sternbllder

(Leipzig 1903), 118, 130, 146, 242.

(47) STEVENSON, Terrestrial and Celestial Globes

1 :

15

(note

7).

(48)

Lloyd

A. BROWN,

The Story of

Maps

(New York

1979,

first

edition 1949),

34; he also states

that the

globe is

two

meters "In diameter"

(read "cir

cumference")

and, a few lines below

"It

may have been built by or

for

Eudoxus".

(49) Antolne DE SMET, Exposition de Globes dans le cadre du IIle Symposium

International

de la Federation

Mondlale

Coronelll

des Amls du Globe

et

de

la IIle Conference

Internatlonale d'Hlstolre

de la

Cartographie

(Bruxelles

1969), 1. De Smet also says

that

11 pourret s'aglr de la cople d'un original

grec

plus ancien".

(SO)

Alols FAUSER, Kulturgeschlchte des Globus (Munchen 1973), 36-39 with

one

figure.

(51) WARNER, The Sky Explored 278

(note 22).

(52) Germalne AUJAC, La geografla nel mondo antlco (Napoll 1984, enlarged

and

updated edition of

"La geographle dans le monde

antique",

Paris 1975),

39.

(53) Oscar A.

W.

DILKE, Greek

and

Roman Maps

(Ithaca,

N. Y. 1985), 22, 146;

though In the

footnootes

he makes the only

reference of

Stevenson In

figure 7 (showing the Atlas) he adds the dates

"1st-2nd

century AD" and

doesn't explain elsewhere In the text the

source which contradicts

Stevenson; Stevenson dated It 300 years

before

Christ (see my note 47).

(54)

Italian publications are marked by Fiorlnl's work:

Angelo TACCONE,

Atlan

tee

In: Enclclopedla

ltallana5

(1930) 208;

Roberto

ALMAGIA, Globo. In:

EncJclopedla Itallana 17 (1933) 425; Glorgio T ABARRONI, Globl celesti

sulle

monete

romane. In: Coelum 24 (1956) 7-17, esp.

9-11 and

fig. 1;

Glovannl Battlsta LACCHINI, Atlante Celeste. 4th ed. (Faenza 1969), 8;

among

the Italian

I

dare

recall Hans

G. GUN

DEL,

Zodiaco.

In: Enciclopedia

dell 'arte antlca

classlca e

orlentale

7 (1966)

1274-1286,

esp. 1278,

the

head word provides a very detailed study with a large bibliography

at

the

end.

Out of Italy we may

cite

Edward HEIS, Atlas Coelestls Novus (Koln 1872),

vIII; Hels traced the Image of the constellations following the Atlante

Farnese he had the occasion

to

see In 1859 in

the

Archeological Museum at

Naples.

(55) Froncesco BlANCH1Nl, Globus Farnesianus et In eo Rudlmenta Astronomlae,

8/11/2019 Atlas Farnesianus

10/17

(56)

(57)

(58)

(59)

(60)

(61)

- 1 12 -

Chronologlae,

&

Hlstorla

Aetatls

Herolcae, a Graecls ad nos transmlssa.

In:

Gluseppe

BIANCHINI

(ed.), Demonstratlo Hlstorlae Eccleslastlcae

Quadrl

partltala comprobatae monumentls

pertlnentlbus

ad fidem temporum et

gestorum

(Roma 1752) 2 : 997-1184 with

seven

figures In six plates.

The

chapter

clevoted to

the

"Globus Forneslanus" opens with a

short preface

by

Gluseppe Blanchlnl who calls to mind

that

flftyfour

years

elapsed

since his

uncle

promised In his Istorla Unlversale to publish a study on

the

globe

(see

my note

15).

FIORINI,

Sfere terrestrl

e

celestl

12

(note

5) says

that I

posterl

con

mol

to

accorglmento

non si azzardarono a pubbllcarla

per

non

recare oltragglo

alia memor ia d.el Blanchlnl" (poster iors dare not publish It for not offending

the

memory

of

Blanchlni),

thus

the work was not published because

the

Incompleteness

of the manuscript. The same

opinion

expresses

T ABARRO

NI, Globl celestl 10.

"Just the

same

sculpture, If I am not wrong", BIANCHINI, Globus

Farneslanus 1008

(note

55);

here

Blanchlnl

dates the

coin

157-158

corresponding

to the twentieth "Trlbunlcla Potestatls of Antonlnus Plus.

F

or

Its

dating see

also my

note

35.

There Is

a

perfect correspondance between

Aratus' poem ond

relative

positions

of

constellations. The globe amends some oversights of Aratus,

among them the confusion between right

and

left

foot of

the Man kneeling

which Is

under the head of

Draco:

see

Aratus verses 69-70.

The mistake

was

first remarked by Hlpparchus In his

Commentary on

Aratusj for the

argument

and

other related topics

see ARA TO DI

SOLI, Fenomenl e

pronostlcl (Flrenze 1948),

translated

and

annotated

by Gluseppe ZANNONI,

vII-xxvi, 48-71,

esp.

51-52. Also Germanlcus corrected and Improved

'Aratus

l

poem In his Latin translation and called Libra the Chaelae of

Scorpio.

BIANCHINI, Globus Farneslanus 1020

(note

55).

On

the

precession

see the last

authoritative words

of

Otto NEUGEBAUER,

A History

of

Ancient

Mathematical

Astronomy, 3 vols.

(Berlln/Heldelberg/

New York 1975) , 1 : 54, 292-298 where he also Introduces

the

spurious

theory of

"trepidation",

and

2 :

593 l.00 where

a discussion on various

norms

for the

Vernal

paint are

dlscussedJ2:

631-634

are again devoted

to

the

trepidation

of the

Equinoxes.

J.L.E. DREYER, A history of

the

Planetary System from Tholes

to

Kepler

(Cambridge 1906) was surprised by

the fact

that a so

great

discovery did

not become soon universally known; see the

last

Italian edition, Storla

dell'astronomla do Talete a Keplero. 2nd. ed. (Mllano 1977), 185-186.

PTOLEMY

speaks about the

precession

In

Almagest VII, 2

and 3.

Of no help

In this

respect

Is

Robert

R. NEWTON,

The

Crime

of

Claudius

Ptolemy

(Johns Hopklns UniverSity

Press

1977).

The

author trys to bring Into

disre

pute the

whole work by

Ptolemy,

though

we

may find misleading

the way

of

using modern awareness, data and tools to find (and stress) scientific

errors or

- we would

better say

- what

we

think be

error

In

the past.

BlANCH

1Nl,

Globus Farneslanus 1030-1031

(note

55). The

coordinates

given by

Ptolemy

to

the

more

advanced of the

2 stars on

the

horn"

of

Aries

are

6

40'ln

longitude and 7 20'ln latitude; these lead according to

(62)

(63)

(64)

(65)

(66)

(67)

-113 -

Blanchlnl

to

3

15' of

right ascension

and to

3 07' 11" only according

to

Florlnl. The slight difference comes from

the

different Inclination

of the

ecliptic

adopted by

the two authors:

23 30' by Blanchlnl and 23

51'

by

Florlnl. The latter, more correctly, used the value given In the Almagest

I,

12.

The use of

ecllptlcal

system Is

explained

by PTOLEMY In Almagest VII, 4

and

Is

justified by the fact

that

latitudes don't vary and only longltudes

Increase

proportionally

to the time elapsed

between two

observations

(I.e.

the

value

of the

precession).

Thqt

marble

was sculptured and given to Antonlnus Plus as ornament to

his library

together

with

the catalogue of

fixed stars by

Ptolemy, just

calculated for the time of his reign", BIANCHINI, Globus Farneslanus 1039

(note 55).

The

globe does

not seem

to

me

that

"donne une Image Immobile du clel",

as

stated In

Germalne

AUJAC, La symbollque des du monde en

Grece anclenne.

In: Imago

et

Mensura Mundl. Attl del

IX

Congresso

Internazlonale dl Storla della Cartografla, 1981 Plsa (Roma 1985), 1 : 433-

441,

esp.

436.

The

presence

of the

precession, for

the

first

time registered

on a globe, makes the sky and the so called fixed stars definitely

alive.

My

first

approach

to

the Atlante

Farnese

was

In the occasion

of the exhibit

of the sculpture In

Paris;

see Costanza

GIALANELLA

and

Vladlmlro VALE

RIO, Atlas Farnese. In: Cartes et Figures de la Terre (Paris 1980), 84. An

Italian translation appeared In the catalogue Itlnerarlo Farneslano. Le

sculture Farnese

del Museo dl Napoll (Napoll 1982),24-25.

On

the

numerous Individual problems posed by

the star

catalogue we

may

see the

aged

but

stili the best

treatment of the

catalogue

as

a whole by

Christian H.F. PETERS and Edward B. KNOBEL, Ptolemy's Catalogue of

Stars. A revision

of

the Almagest (Washington 1915), esp. 7-15;

at

page 15

we read The comparison

of

the longltudes

of zodiacal

stars only

for

A.D.

100 shows a

mean error of +

34'.9,

equivalent to

42

years,

making

the true

epoch of Ptolemy's

Catalogue

A.D. 58, which Is not very dissimilar

to

A.D.

63

adopted by Bode".

See

also for

an update treatment of the star

catalogue and Its sources NEUGEBAUER, A History of Ancient Mathemtlcal

Astronomy 1 :

280-288 (note 60),

where

he

refuses

the

trivial assumption

that Ptolemy's catalogue derived by Hlpparchus only adding 2 40' to the

longltudes,

and

G.J. TOOMER,

Ptolemy's

Almagest. Translated and

annotated

by G.J. T

oomer

(London 1984),

1-26,

esp. 14-17.

For the value adopted by PTOLEMY see Almagest

I,

12 and the notes by

TOO

MER,

Ptolemy's

Almagest

61-63 (note (5).

For

other

ancient values

see

NEUGEBAUER, A History

of

Ancient

Mathematical

Astronomy 349, 582,

772 (for

a

reference

to

Strabo), 844 (to

Vltruvlus)

and

889

(note

(0).

Just

to have an

Idea

of the epoch

which

the

precession

of the Farnese

Globe well fits we may run the same calculus used by BlANCH 1Nl, Globus

Farneslanus 1032-1033 (note 55). The value of 5 09'

of

right ascension

of

Aries give about 8 48' of

longitude

against 6 40' registered In the

Almagest. According to Flamsteed's catalogue for 1690 the longitude of

the same

star Is

28 51'; thus

the

difference between

the

two

observations

Is 20 03' which means, In time,

1424

years - using a

precession

of 71

years

8/11/2019 Atlas Farnesianus

11/17

- 114 -

per

degree.

The value of

the

precesslon reglstered on the globe

Is referred

to

about 2 A.D.

I

don't belleve

at all the epoch calculated In such a crude way may be

correct. I

thlnk the displacement of

the colure has been

necessarlly

exag

gerated, otherwlse the equator, the ecllptlc and the colure

rlsked

to joln In

a

too

IIttle triangle, confused In

the

thlckness of

the marbel

clrcles.

(&8) The horlzon of mlddle Phoenlcla gets partlcular value In the

Almagest

(XIII,

7-10)

where PTOLEMY refers all his da a of planetary phases to "one

Intermediate

latltude

of

the

Medlterranean

area,

I.e.

to the latltude

of

Phoenlcla

where the longest day

Is

the mean value"

between

Alexan

dria and ROdhes, quoted from NEUGEBAUER, A HIstory of Anclent Mathe

matlcal

Astronomy

1 : 234 (note &0).

Accordlng

to Ptolemy,

latltude

of

Mlddle Phoenlcla Is 33 18' north, see the Almagest 11 6 In partleukir the

descrlptlon of the tenth parallel whlch goes through the mlddle of

Phoenlcla.

(6'1) HINCKLEY ALLEN, Star names 270 (note 45) attributes

to

Gemlnus

and

Varro

the

first dlstlnctlon of

Balance from

the Chaelae of

Scorplo.

(70) In

Almagest

VII, 3 we find a

list

of

18

stars

('1 per

hemlsphere) wlth thelr

decllnatlon recorded by

Arlstyllos-

Tymocharls, by Hlpparchus and by hlm

self.

It must

be noted

that

not all

of

them

agree wlth the acutal position

In

the Farnese globe -

even If

we

have

to conslder the

dlfflculty

to locate

exactly the

position of

the

stars In

the

constellatlons - but It

Is

a matter of

fact that

Splca

(the

left hand

of

Vlr.go)

Is

south to the equator.

(71) See my note &8.

It

Is also the ca

se to remlnd

the sound advlce of NEUGE

BAUER, A

HIstory

of

Anclent Mathematlcal Astronomy

2 :

733 (note

&0)

who observes -the tendency

to adjust

emplrlcal da

a

to numerologlcal

speculatlons In early Greek geography. As an example

he

quotes

the

definition of

the terrestrlal zones by GemlnusJ the terrestrlal quadrant

Is

dlvlded Into

three

zones whlch are

4/15,5/15

and 6/15 (earth's quadrant

supposed to be composed of 15 parts). The first flgure leads to

the troplc

(I.e. 24), the

boundary

between the second and the thlrd

falls

just

at

54

north whlch becomes the

position

of the arctlc clrcle.

Neugebauer

concludes that the clrcumstance "may weil be the

real

cause of

the Impor

tance

of = 3& In

later

geography

and

astronomy, rather than any

relation to Hlpparchus or

to

Rodhes".

(72) TOOMER, Ptolemy's Almagest 15 (note 65).

ZUM

KARTEN BILD UND

ZU

BERECHNUNGSMGLICHKEITEN

AN DER HIMMELSKUGEL DES FARNESISCHEN ATLAS

Vladlmlro Valerlo

Vorausgeschickt wird, da die erste wirklich

universelle

Beschreibung

lte

rer Erd- und Himmelsgloben

von

Florlnl (1827-1'101), Professor an

der Universi

tt Bologna, vorgelegt worden Ist. Florlnl hat nicht nur

ber die historische

Ent

wicklung von Projektionen

gearbeitet,

sondem auch zwischen 18'13 und 18'18

mit

Hilfe eines Formulares; das

an

Italienische Bibliotheken, Archive und an

private

Sammler

gesandt wurde, Informationen ber Globen

gesammelt. Uber

die Ergebnisse wurden 18'13 und 1894 Im

"Bollettlno

della Socletd GeografIca

Itallana"

berichtet,

S.

Gnther

hat 18'15 eine deutsche (verbesserte) Auflage

-115 -

dieses Artikels herausgegeben, die meist als "Florln

l-Gnther"

bezeichnet

wird.

erschien dann das groe

Buch

''Sfere

terrestrl

e

celestl dl

auto e Itallano

oppure fatte

0 conservate In Italla", das erste Buch seiner Art, das auch mehr Ist

als ein Katalog der-lri Italien erhaltenen Globen. Stevenson bezieht sich Immer In

seinem bekannten

Buch

"T

errestrlal

and

Celestlal

Globes"

auf

Florlnl, dessen

WIssensstand er In vielem nicht verbessert

hat.

Heute wird Stevenson viel fters

zitiert als

Florlnl.

Dies ungeachtet der

Tatsache,

da

z.B. Florlnl

15 Selten dem

FarnesIschen Atlas widmet, Stevenson nur 16

Zellen.

So Ist es nicht verwunder

lich,

da

hier

besonders

auf

Florlnls

Plon

l

ertat

hingewiesen

wird.

Dem

Problemen

des Fameslschen Atlasses auf

die

Spur zu

kommen

Ist auf

vielerlei

Art

mglich. Zwei Mglichkeiten kristallisieren sich heraus: Eine

stilisti

sche -

ber die

mir leider

keine

grundlegenden Forschungen

vorliegen

- un d eine

astronomische,

der Ich In meiner Kompetenz folgen will. Stilistischer und

astronomischer

Befund mssen aber mit

einander

verbunden sein, will man

die

Zelt der Herstellung der Skulptur

bestimmen.

Betrachtet

man

die Darstellung

der Sternbilder auf dem Globus, so scheint eine Herstellung nicht spter als das

erste Jahrhundert

v.Chr.

richtig. Nun wurde, seit

die

Skulptur In

der Mitte

des

1&. Jhdts. ausgegraben wurde, der Farnesische Atlas nur einmal grndlich

studiert, wie

man aus der Vielzahl von Verffentlichungen

entnehmen kann.

In

den letzten zwei

Jahrhunderten

wurde die Bedeutung der

Darstellung

auf

dem

Himmelsglobus

unterschtzt,

je es

gibt

sogar

Unterschiede

bel der

Bestimmung

der

Zahl der

dargestellten Sternbilder. Die

vorliegende Arbeit

soll nur

ein

Beginn

fr

weitere

Untersc:hungen sein, mit dem Ziel,

nicht nur die Bibliographie

aufzuarbeiten, sondern

eine

detail l ierte Beschreibung der

Himmelskugel

zu

erarbeiten.

Generell

gilt

Passerls

"Atlas

Farneslanus" als

erster, bester

und

systematischer Bericht ber die

Skulptur. Dies

stimmt

nicht, sogar Passerl hat In

seinem Vorwort auf eine vorherige

Untersuchung

von Blanchlnl verwiesen, der

bel dieser Untersuchung vom berhmten Casslnl begleitet war (16'15). Diese

Untersuchung

wurde bereits

16'17

verffentlicht, sie ent hlt das erste

gedruckte

Bild der Skulptur. Blanchlnl verweist auf die Notwendigkeit, einen Astronomen -

Casslnl - zur Untersuchung

zuzuz

iehen. Blanchlnls Tod (172'1) verhinderte das

grundlegenden Beschreibung,

die er voraussichtlich zwischen

1700

- 1720 begonnen hatte. Das Manuskript wird 1731 bzw. 1735 unter den

bel

seinem Tod -

unverffentlichten

Werken

erwhnt,

es l iegt In der Blblloteca

Capltolare In Verona auf.

Dieses Manuskr ipt hatte

keinen

Einflu auf Passerl, der weder die

astrono

mischen Berechnungen

verstand, noch

Blanchlnls historisch es Wissen

hatte. Re

konstruiert man

die

Geschichte

der Beschreibungen des Farnesischen Atlasses,

mu man die beste und Interessanteste zur

Rate

ziehen: eine Zeichnung von

Martln Folkes (16'10-1754); Folkes war eine EInzeierscheinung eines Gelehrten,

der nach einer

Reise -

auf

dieser

war er

vom Farnesischen

Atlas

besonders

beeindruckt

-

zum

Archologen

wurde.

Diese Abbildung erschien 173'1 In

Bentleys Ausgabe des "Astronomieon" des Manllio. (Wird derzeit als

"Anonymus"

von

Deborah Wa

rn er gefhrt). Die

Zeichnung

zeigt den Globus nicht In

Perspektive,

so

wie

das Immer gemacht wurde, sondern In

stereographischer

Projektion. Nur die mathematische Fhigkeit

Folkes'

ermglichte

so eine przise

Darstellung,

eine

Projektion,

die

Kreise In Kreise umsetzt und automorph Ist, fr

astronomische

Zwecke

durchaus geeignet. (Astrolabien basieren auf

stereogra-

8/11/2019 Atlas Farnesianus

12/17

-116

-

phlscher

Projektion). Mglicherweise war

Folkes'

Ansicht

von

einem Modell

abgenommen

worden,

das vielleicht ous Gips bestand; davon Ist

nichts erhalten.

Aber

auf

die Genauigkeit kann vielleicht aus Sir Hans Sloane's Kopie des Globus

des Farnesischen Atlasses geschlossen

werden,

die

meiner

Meinung

mit

Folkes'

Muster, dem qectypum", In Verbindung steht. Sioanes Kopie sollte nicht vor

_ Bentley

erwhnt

sie

nicht

- und

nicht

nach dem Tode Folkes'

entstanden

sein.

Durch Folkes

kam der

Farnesische Himmelsglobus nach England, und Martln

erwhnt Ihn und z. B. auch eine Kopie, die

er

bel sich habe, d.h. mehrere

Exemplare

muten In England

Mitte

des 18. Jhdts. vorhanden sein.

Martln macht,

obwohl ber

Durchmesser und Radius Verwirrung

herrscht,

eine sehr gute

Berechnung des Wertes

der

Przession und hlt

et w

'a 50 fest, was 360 Jahre

nach

dem

Zeitpunkt bedeutet,

an dem

der Kolur

Im Punkt

der Tag-

und

Nachtgleiche lag.

Dieser Schlu,

sowie

auch das folgende Herstellungsdatum

"einige

Jahre vor

Christi Geburt"

und

die

Annahme, da

der Kolur der Tag-

und

Nachtgleiche durch

das Horn des Widders 2200 Jahre

vor

seiner

Zelt

(d.

I. etwa

430 v.C