This medieval astrolabe has both Arabic and Hebrew markings. Here's what it means
This discovery sheds new light on the rich history of scholarship and intellectual exchange between Muslims, Jews and Christians during a time of Muslim rule in medieval Spain.
Sometimes a little modern technology can help turn up an ancient treasure — even if that technology is nothing more than a computer screen and a simple web search.
That's what happened to Federica Gigante, a historian at the University of Cambridge, who was putting together a lecture about people who collected Islamic art and artifacts. One of those collectors was a 17th-century Italian nobleman from Verona named Ludovico Moscardo.
"I simply Googled his name," recalled Gigante, "thinking, 'I'll stick his portrait on the PowerPoint.'"
Google produced a portrait — but the search also called up a picture of a room from the in Verona, Italy where that portrait is hanging.
