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Nimrod as the astronomer (1)

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05 Scientific knowledge and scholarly lore


01 Religious and ideological doctrines and imagery





01 Religious and ideological doctrines and imagery



Keywords
planets
winds
Period
9th century CE
Middle Ages
Channel
Medieval texts


Text
Mythological explanation of the observed motion of the planets against the background of the fixed stars.

Liber Nimrod 7:
And when Ioanton had heard from his master that the seven planets are not fixed in the heavens, Ioanton said, ‘My Master, I see the heavens turning in direct proportion, and I know that these seven planets are not fixed in the heavens as other stars; but what other powers do they run more hastily for a time, sometimes from East to West, at other times from West to East?’ Nimrod responded, saying: ‘Above these seven [planets] the creator commanded seven winds; each one of them takes up its course according to the power of its wind and the latitude of its wheel [= orbit]. For example, when the direction of the same [winds] is from West to East, you should know that their [= planets’] course is from East to West, but the winds which dominate them bring them back and they revolve backward and by constraint.


Source (list of abbreviations)
Liber Nimrod 7

Bibliography

Livesey and Rouse 1981, 205Livesey, Steven J. and Richard H. Rouse. “Nimrod the Astronomer.” Traditio 37 (1981) 203-266.

Amar Annus


URL for this entry: http://www.aakkl.helsinki.fi/melammu/database/gen_html/a0000244.php


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