Antique 17th Century Celestial Map
Perseus Constellation
SCHILLER, Julius [d. 1627].
Constellatio XI [Constellation XI: Perseus (Saint Paul the Apostle)]
Coelum Stellatum Christianum, Augsburg: 1627.
9 1/2" x 12 1/4" (24.1 x 31.1 cm).
Original antique map - modern colour, heightened in gilt (margins foxed with several short tears & one small hole).
Perseus is a constellation in the northern sky, named after the Greek mythological hero Perseus. The constellation is depicted as Saint Paul the Apostle.
Schiller's Coelum Stellatum Christianum [Augsburg: 1627] is "...an interesting and curious old work in which...numerous saints are enshrined among the stars. Biblical names are substituted instead of the so-called heathen ones, an idea obtained from early MSS. It is said that Judas or Julius Schiller revived the names given to the Zodiacal groups centuries before by the Venerable Bede, and completed the reformation with all the constellations...". (Brown)
Warner, The Sky Explored, pp. 229-232. Brown, Astronomical Atlases, pp. 31-32.