Research Guides: Archived Research Projects: Gods & Myths

Gods & Myths

Images from the Warburg Iconographic Database
Selected Publications & Resources

Photographic Collection Holdings
List of astronomical and astrological material in the database

The section on astronomy and astrology is one of the strong points of the Warburg Institute Photographic Collection. As Aby Warburg and Fritz Saxl recognised, depictions of constellations formed virtually the only uninterrupted iconographical tradition from classical Antiquity through to the Renaissance. With the introduction of Arabic astrology in western Europe in the later Middle Ages, images of the seven planets and other phenomena, such as decans and paranatellonta, were added to this repertoire as well. Saxl in particular collected photographs of astronomical and astrological manuscripts to document this aspect of the heritage of the classical tradition. Because of the importance of the material he gathered, this section of the Photographic Collection was selected as the first to be digitised systematically.

Ancient Astrology Resources
Includes Ptolemy's Tetrabyblos, Censorinus' de Die natali... and others.
C.U.R.A.
Online magazine and association C.U.R.A. (Centre Universitaire de Recherche sur l'astrologie) aims at involving the enlightened public as well as that of specialists - in particular anthropologists, philosophers and epistemologists - in examining the viability and relevance of astrology as it takes steps to advance knowledge.
Calendars through the Ages
Cielo e Terra
Association for the study of astrology. Includes anthology of sources and links (in Italian).
English Calendar
Galileo Project
Hypertext source of information on the life and work of Galileo Galilei (1564 0 1642) and the science of his time, hosted by Rice University.
Kitāb Gharāʾib al-funūn wa-mulaḥ al-ʿuyūn, [known as the Book of Curiosities]
Digital version of the complete manuscript of a hitherto unknown Arabic cosmographical treatise, the يKitāb Gharāʾib al-funūn wa-mulaḥ al-ʿuyūn, known as the Book of Curiosities and kept at the Bodleian Library The manuscript is a copy, probably made in Egypt in the late 12th or early 13th century, of an anonymous work compiled in the first half of the 11th century in Egypt. The treatise is extraordinarily important for the history of science, especially for astronomy and cartography, and contains an unparalleled series of diagrams of the heavens and maps of the earth.
The Newton Project
Digital project aiming at regrouping the entire corpus of Newton's works.
Online resources on the history of astrology at the Warburg Library
Ptolemy and Ancient Astrology
BBC In Our Time: Melvyn Bragg and his guests, including Professor Charles Burnett, discuss the ancient Greek astronomer and mathematician Ptolemy.
The Saxl Project
The Saxl Project is the name of a plan to have complete digital access to over 250 medieval and Renaissance illustrated astronomical and astrological manuscripts. It is intended to be a continuation and updating of Fritz Saxl's multi-volume work: Verzeichnis der astrologischer und mythologischer illustrierter Handschriften des lateinischen Mittelalters in römischen Bibliotheken (1915-1966, with the collaboration of Hans Meier and Patrick McGurk). The Project is led by Kristen Lippincott and run jointly with The Warburg Institute, University of London. It has also benefitted greatly from previous collaborative research, which was carried out with Dr Elly Dekker of Utrecht University, between 1997 and 2007.
Transit
Online journal from the Astrological Association of Great Britain.
Urania
Russian-based site, includes free astrological charts.