planisphere

Updated: May 13, 2025

In an apartment of the great temple of Denderah, some fifty years ago, there was discovered upon the granite ceiling a sculptured and painted planisphere, abounding in centaurs, griffins, and dolphins, similar to the grotesque figures on the celestial globe of the moderns.

Herman Melville - Moby Dick: or, the White Whale

On being shown the planisphere, he proved his knowledge of the planets and many of the constellations, by repeating their Arabic names. The telescope, which presented objects inverted, the compass, by which he could always turn to the East when praying, and the sextant, which he called 'the looking-glass of the sun, excited peculiar interest.

Lydia Maria Francis Child - An Appeal in Favor of that Class of Americans Called Africans