Star Lore The Constellations of Julius Schiller

In 1627, German lawyer and astronomer Julius Schiller published a star map in the attempt to replace the "pagan" constellations with biblical names and themes. His Coelum Stellatum Christianum (The Christian Starry Heaven) was supported by fellow German astronomer Johann Bayer who in 1603 had published the popular star atlas Uranometria. In his rather extensive work, Schiller replaced the twelve constellations of the Zodiac with the twelve apostles, the other northern constellations with themes and characters from the New Testament and the southern constellations with themes and characters from the Old Testament. He even "renamed" the then known planets. Mercury became Elias, Venus became St. John the Baptist, Mars became Joshua, Jupiter became Moses, and Saturn became Adam. The 54 copper plates were engraved by Lucas Kilian. Contrary to most other star catalogs, Kilian's work showed the constellations not as seen from Earth but in the orientation of a celestial globe, in the way how "God would look at the firmament from up above. Schiller's constellations never gained much popularity. Only Dutch–German cartographer and cosmographer Andreas Cellarius used them in his star atlas Harmonia Macrocosmica in 1660. A complete collection of the engravings can be found at atlascoelestis.com, Spanish Wikiipedia and German Wikipedia. Sources: Wikipedia, Delaware Gazette, SkyEye, Linda Hall Library

Engraver Lucas Kilian Source: Wikipedia Schiller's constellations on a celestial globe Source: paperpino.net

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