El bestiario astronómico. Los motivos animalísticos en los mapas celestes en la Edad Moderna

Abstract

Since ancient times, the knowledge of the nightly sky led civilizations to group stars in constellations and to the invention of mnemonic rules in order to make it possible to recognize and remember them with little difficulty This essay aims to offer a general perspective of the constellations that were represented by means of animal symbois in the sky maps produced during the Middle Ages. Attention will also be paid to their iconographic sources in the two main periods of their evolution: a) The sky maps and b) the post-Ptolomaic charts.