Classical Mythology, 7th Edition - obinfonet: dia logou

CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY IN LITERATURE AND ART 697
Sky Map of the Northern Hemisphere, by Albrecht Durer (1471-1528). Woodcut, 1515; 16 3 /4 X
16 3 /4 in. The Latin title means "Figures of the northern sky with the twelve signs of the
Zodiac." Diirer's sky-maps are patterned on Arab celestial maps, but this is one of the
earliest Renaissance works in which the classical figures resume their classical forms. Hercules
(seen just below and to the right of center) has his club and lionskin; Perseus (just
above and to the left of center) holds the Gorgon's head (caput Méduse) instead of the
Arabic monster, Algol. Individual stars are indicated by numbers corresponding to Books
8 and 9 of Ptolemy's Almagest. The signs of the Zodiac encircle the map, and in the corners
are three ancient writers on astronomy and one medieval scholar: Aratus of Cilicia
(third century B.c.); Ptolemy of Egypt (second century A.D.); Al Sufi, written here as Azophi
(Abdul Rahman, Arab astronomer of the tenth century A.D.); and Manilius of Rome (early
first century A.D.). Diirer made the original version of this map in 1503, showing the heavens
as they were in 1499-1500. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Harris Brisbane
Dick Fund, 1951.)