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In this latest vernacular-shaping installment, This Week in Metaphor is going to focus on an ancient mathematical tool called the astrolabe.
The astrolabe is an ancient computer used for complex calculations like predicting the positions of objects in the sky or navigating ships. Map-making and time-telling could also be calculated with one of these marvelous machines.
Now, when I say computer, I mean it in the traditional data-crunching definition. The astrolabe is often lumped in with pre-electric counting tools like the abacus or the Incan Empire’s Quipu. However, astrolabes were much more complicated. Each astrolabe was composed of a large circular plate, called the mater, embedded with a series of moveable hollow disks. The operator would hold the device parallel to a point of reference and move the disks around. Points on the disks, called indicators, would line up with charted numbers on the mater for the operator to read.
The Islamic world is credited with making the first brass astrolabes over a thousand years ago to help find the direction to Mecca for prayer. They were the chief navigational tool until the sextant replaced them in the 16th century. After about 1,500 years of use, astrolabes are now restricted to museum shelves and the occasional steampunk story.
Geoffery Chaucer wrote to his son about astrolabes in what was intended to be a great work of literature. He wrote a few pages and his outline showed that he intended to expand it into a sweeping treastise, but alas, he never got to finish it before his death. After reading his unfinished “Canterbury Tales” in high school, I’m starting to doubt the tales that his death was untimely and sudden. I think this guy was history’s greatest procrastinator.
What I like about astrolabes for metaphorical purposes is how in a relatively low-tech manner, they can take common observations, like the position of a few stars on the horizon, and predict fantastic events. It’s rare today that a simple invention, technique, or mantra can act as a catalyst when we need to accomplish something. I think we would all like some form of an astrolabe: something simple to focus a part of our life and make sense of a big mess.
The early Muslim consulted the astrolabe before directing his prayers toward Mecca; today’s college students consult Facebook with a similar intention: to ascertain his or her place in the social galaxy and to determine the direction in which to point his or her desires. – Prof. Steve Evans
