Middle East NW P-107 50 pounds 1998 UNC | Astrolabe Waterwheel

Color: Dark brown, orange-brown, dark green

Front:

• Medieval Arabic astrolabe
• Citadel of Aleppo
• The largest of the Norias (water wheels) of Hama on the Orontes River
• Old vases 

Back:

• Grape vine branch
• Al-Assad National Library
• Abbasiyyin Stadium at top-centre
• Pupils and students at school

What is an astrolabe?

An astrolabe is a sophisticated pre-modern instrument—part scientific calculator, part map of the sky—used to model the positions of the Sun and stars and to solve practical problems involving time, latitude, and direction. With it, one could tell the time by the stars or Sun, determine latitude at sea or on land, find the direction of Mecca for prayer, and perform a wide range of astronomical and mathematical calculations long before clocks or sextants existed.