Federica Gigante, an expert in Islamic astrolabes, was researching a 17th century Italian collector named Ludovico Moscato.
In a photo of his collection housed at a museum in Verona, Italy, she spotted what looked like an astrolabe in the corner.
Upon examining the artifact in person, she noticed smaller inscriptions in addition to prominent Arabic ones.
Under closer inspection with a magnifying glass, she found the astrolabe had inscriptions in Arabic, Hebrew, and Latin/numeric languages.
Carbon dating and analysis of the inscriptions date it to the 11th century and suggest it originated in Spain before travelling through North Africa to Italy.
It’s one of only 5-6 known astrolabes that contain inscriptions in Arabic, Hebrew, and European languages, making it extremely rare.
The discovery provides evidence of scientific exchange between Muslim, Jewish, and Christian scholars over hundreds of years in Medieval Iberia and North Africa.
Source: miamiherald
