Julius Schiller

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Julius Schiller was born in 1580. Apart from being one of the renowned medieval map makers, Julius Schiller was a reputed lawyer at Augsburg in Germany. He died in the year…


World Map of Medieval Era

Julius Schiller was born in 1580. Apart from being one of the renowned medieval map makers, Julius Schiller was a reputed lawyer at Augsburg in Germany. He died in the year 1627. He rose to fame in the sector of map making for his star atlas. This atlas is a pioneering work in the field of celestial cartography.

In 1627, that is, the year in which he died, Schiller, with the help of Bayer, published this atlas. The name of this atlas is Coelum Stellatum Christianum. In this atlas, Pagan constellations were replaced by early Christian and biblical figures.

In this atlas, biblical figures replaced the planets, the moon and the sun. Julius Schiller put New Testament figures in place of the northern constellations, the twelve apostles in place of the zodiacal constellations and Old Testament figures in place of the southern constellations.

The plates were engraved by an artist called Lucas Kilian. This atlas by Julius was never quite accepted as it was too radical for its time. However, it was of great importance to the astronomers of the day.

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