Four wise men

The so-called Four Wise Men are an iconological motif.

The rare motif was used on astronomical church clocks of the Hanseatic type in the Doberaner Münster and the Stralsund Nikolaikirche , where they fill in the gussets .

The group of four consists of Claudius Ptolemaios , one of the most famous astronomers of antiquity, Alfonso X of Castile , who had the movements of the moon and planets recalculated ( Alfonsine tables ), Ali ibn Ridwan (Hali), an Egyptian astrologer and doctor of the 11th century 3rd century, as well as Albumasar , 9th century Persian astronomer.

On the astronomical clock in St. Nikolai (Stralsund) the four wise men are shown as follows:

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  Claudius Ptolemy

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  Alfonso X.

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  Ali ibn Ridwan

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  Albumasar

Individual evidence

1. ^ WM Lippe: The history of calculating machines. Lecture notes chapter 5, p. 5 (December 14, 2006)

literature

• F. Gedike: Berlin Memorial of four famous world sages . In: Berlin monthly journal . Volume 2, 1788, pp. 483-487.
• JE Biester: News from the projected Monument of the Four Wise Men in Berlin, in relation to a request from Herr von Archenholz . In: Berlin monthly journal . Volume 1, 1794, pp. 369-377.