|
Libra (astrology)
__NOTOC__ Libra () is the seventh astrological sign in the zodiac. It spans 180°–210° celestial longitude. The Sun transits this sign on average between September 22 and October 23. The symbol of the scales is based on the Scales of Justice held by Themis, the Greek personification of divine law and custom. She became the inspiration for modern depictions of Lady Justice. The ruling planet of Libra is Venus. Libra is the only zodiac sign that is represented by an object; with the other eleven signs represented by either an animal or mythological character. Astrological associations Libra is the cardinal modality of the three air signs, the others being Gemini and Aquarius. The main connotations of planets under this sign are sociable, rational, and detached when dealing with situations. Libra is symbolized by the scales and is associated with the Roman deity '' Iustitia''. According to the writer Manilius, Roman judges are born under the sign of Libra. The Moon was said ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Balance Scale
A scale or balance is a device used to measure weight or mass. These are also known as mass scales, weight scales, mass balances, and weight balances. The traditional scale consists of two plates or bowls suspended at equal distances from a fulcrum. One plate holds an object of unknown mass (or weight), while known masses are added to the other plate until static equilibrium is achieved and the plates level off, which happens when the masses on the two plates are equal. The perfect scale rests at neutral. A spring scale will make use of a spring of known stiffness to determine mass (or weight). Suspending a certain mass will extend the spring by a certain amount depending on the spring's stiffness (or spring constant). The heavier the object, the more the spring stretches, as described in Hooke's law. Other types of scales making use of different physical principles also exist. Some scales can be calibrated to read in units of force (weight) such as newtons instead of units ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aquarius (astrology)
Aquarius () is the eleventh astrological sign in the zodiac, originating from the Aquarius (constellation), constellation Aquarius. Under the tropical zodiac, the Sun is in the Aquarius sign between about January 20 and about February 18. Myth The water carrier represented by the zodiacal constellation Aquarius is Ganymede (mythology), Ganymede, a beautiful Phrygian youth. Ganymede was the son of Tros, king of Troy (according to Lucian, he was also the son of Dardanus). While tending to his father's flocks on Mount Ida, Ganymede was spotted by Zeus. The king of gods fell in love with him and flew down to the mountain in the form of a large bird, whisking Ganymede away to the heavens. Ever since, the boy has served as cupbearer to the gods. Ovid has Orpheus sing the tale. Constellation Aquarius is a winter constellation in the northern hemisphere, found near Pisces and Cetus. It is especially notable as the radiant for four meteor showers, the largest of which is the Souther ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Circle Of Stars
A circle of stars often represents unity, solidarity and harmony in flags, seals and signs, and is also seen in iconographic motifs related to the Woman of the Apocalypse as well as in Baroque allegoric art that sometimes depicts the Crown of Immortality. Woman of the Apocalypse The New Testament's Book of Revelation ( 12:1, 2 & 5) describes the Woman of the Apocalypse: ''And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. And she being with child cried, travailing in birth. .... And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron:and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.'' In Catholic tradition she has been identified with the Blessed Virgin Mary, especially in connection with the Immaculate Conception. Mary is often pictured with a crown or Circle of Stars. The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception was somewhat controversial in the m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese Zodiac
The Chinese zodiac is a traditional classification scheme based on the lunar calendar that assigns an animal and its reputed attributes to each year in a repeating twelve-year cycle. Originating from China, the zodiac and its variations remain popular in many East Asian and Southeast Asian countries, such as Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Nepal, Bhutan and Thailand. Identifying this scheme using the generic term "''zodiac''" reflects several superficial similarities to the Western zodiac: both have time cycles divided into twelve parts, each labels at least the majority of those parts with names of animals, and each is widely associated with a culture of ascribing a person's personality or events in their life to the supposed influence of the person's particular relationship to the cycle. Nevertheless, there are major differences between the two: the animals of the Chinese zodiac are not associated with constellations spanned by the ecliptic plane. The Chinese twelve- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Astronomical Symbols
Astronomical symbols are abstract pictorial symbols used to represent astronomical objects, theoretical constructs and observational events in European astronomy. The earliest forms of these symbols appear in Greek papyrus texts of late antiquity. The Byzantine codices in which many Greek papyrus texts were preserved continued and extended the inventory of astronomical symbols. New symbols have been invented to represent many planets and minor planets discovered in the 18th to the 21st centuries. These symbols were once commonly used by professional astronomers, amateur astronomers, alchemists, and astrologers. While they are still commonly used in almanacs and astrological publications, their occurrence in published research and texts on astronomy is relatively infrequent, with some exceptions such as the Sun and Earth symbols appearing in astronomical constants, and certain zodiacal signs used to represent the solstices and equinoxes. Unicode has encoded many of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in Britain after the British Library. Under the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003, it is one of six legal deposit libraries for works published in the United Kingdom, and under Irish law it is entitled to request a copy of each book published in the Republic of Ireland. Known to Oxford scholars as "Bodley" or "the Bod", it operates principally as a reference library and, in general, documents may not be removed from the reading rooms. In 2000, a number of libraries within the University of Oxford were brought together for administrative purposes under the aegis of what was initially known as Oxford University Library Services (OULS), and since 2010 as the Bodleian Libraries, of which the Bodleian Library is the largest comp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Book Of Hours
The book of hours is a Christian devotional book used to pray the canonical hours. The use of a book of hours was especially popular in the Middle Ages and as a result, they are the most common type of surviving medieval illuminated manuscript. Like every manuscript, each manuscript book of hours is unique in one way or another, but most contain a similar collection of texts, prayers and psalms, often with appropriate decorations, for Christian devotion. Illumination or decoration is minimal in many examples, often restricted to decorated capital letters at the start of psalms and other prayers, but books made for wealthy patrons may be extremely lavish, with full-page miniatures. These illustrations would combine picturesque scenes of country life with sacred images. Books of hours were usually written in Latin (the Latin name for them is ''horae''), although there are many entirely or partially written in vernacular European languages, especially Dutch. The closely related p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Book Of Wonders
The ''Kitāb al-Bulhān'' (), or ''Book of Wonders'', is a 14th and 15th century mainly Turkish and some Arabic manuscript, compiled by Hassan Esfahani (Abd al-Hasan Al-Isfahani) probably bound during the reign of Jalayirid Sultan Ahmad (1382–1410) in Baghdad. The contents include subjects on astronomy, astrology and geomancy, including a section of full-page illustrations, with plates dedicated to the discourse topic, e.g. a folktale, a sign of the zodiac, a prophet, etc. Gallery File:Book of Wonders folio 33b.jpg, A man, mounted on a camel, killing a dragon with a lance. File:Book of Wonders folio 35b.jpg, The baths of Tiberius. Men bathing while demons tend the furnace. File:Book of Wonders folio 36a.jpg, The Lighthouse of Alexandria File:Book of Wonders folio 38a.jpg, The Great Wall of Gog and Magog File:Kitab al-Bulhan -- zodiac.jpg, Capricorn or al-Gadī, one of the signs of the Zodiac depicted in the book File:Book of Wonders folio 13b.jpg, Libra or al-Mīzan, one of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Francesco Bianchini
Francesco Bianchini (13 December 16622 March 1729) was an Italian philosopher and scientist. He worked for the curia of three popes, including being ''camiere d'honore'' of Clement XI, and secretary of the commission for the reform of the calendar, working on the method to calculate the astronomically correct date for Easter in a given year. Life and work Bianchini was born of a noble family at Verona, the son of Giuseppe Bianchini and his wife, Cornelia Vailetti. Educated by Jesuits in Bologna, and by the Paduan astronomer, Geminiano Montanari, Bianchini spent most of his university years in Padua studying comets while enrolled in Theology. This early training in astronomy established Bianchini's commitment to the experimental and physical sciences. In 1684 he went to Rome, and became librarian to Cardinal Ottoboni, who, as Pope Alexander VIII (1689), raised him to the offices of papal chamberlain and canon of Santa Maria Maggiore. Clement XI sent him on a mission to Paris in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Santa Maria Degli Angeli E Dei Martiri
The Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels and of the Martyrs ( la, Beatissimae Virginis et omnium Angelorum et Martyrum, it, Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri) is a basilica and titular church in Rome, Italy, built inside the ruined ''frigidarium'' of the Roman Baths of Diocletian in the Piazza della Repubblica, Rome, Piazza della Repubblica. It was constructed in the 16th century following an original design by Michelangelo Buonarroti. Other architects and artists added to the church over the following centuries. During the Kingdom of Italy, the church was used for religious state functions. Description The basilica is dedicated to the Christian martyrs, known and unknown. By a brief dated 27 July 1561, Pius IV ordered the church "built", to be dedicated to the ''Beatissimae Virgini et omnium Angelorum et Martyrum'' ("the Most Blessed Virgin of all the Angels and Martyrs"). Impetus for this dedication had been generated by the account of a purported vision of experience ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sundial
A sundial is a horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the word, it consists of a flat plate (the ''dial'') and a gnomon, which casts a shadow onto the dial. As the Sun appears to move through the sky, the shadow aligns with different hour-lines, which are marked on the dial to indicate the time of day. The ''style'' is the time-telling edge of the gnomon, though a single point or ''nodus'' may be used. The gnomon casts a broad shadow; the shadow of the style shows the time. The gnomon may be a rod, wire, or elaborately decorated metal casting. The style must be parallel to the axis of the Earth's rotation for the sundial to be accurate throughout the year. The style's angle from horizontal is equal to the sundial's geographical latitude. The term ''sundial'' can refer to any device that uses the Sun's altitude or azimut ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scorpio (astrology)
Scorpio () is the eighth astrological sign in the zodiac, originating from the constellation of Scorpius. It spans 210°–240° ecliptic longitude. Under the tropical zodiac (most commonly used in Western astrology), the Sun transits this sign on average from October 23 to November 21. Depending on which zodiac system one uses, someone born under the influence of Scorpio may be called a ''Scorpio'' or a ''Scorpionic''. Associations Scorpio is one of the water signs, the others being Cancer and Pisces. It is a fixed, negative sign. Scorpio is associated with three different animals: the scorpion, the snake, and the eagle. According to ''The Astrology Bible'', Scorpio's colors are deep red, maroon, black, and brown. Gallery File:Mosaic in Maltezana at Analipsi, Astypalaia, 5th c AD, Scorpio Astm30a.jpg, Mosaic in Maltezana near Analipsi, Astypalaia, 5th century CE. File:Bogenstraße 34 (Hamburg-Harvestehude).Eingang.Detail.3.19907.ajb.jpg, Scorpio adorning a building in Ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
