Arianna Dalla Costa
Graduate Library Trainee
Research Interests: History of Philosophy | Palaeography | Medieval Astrology | Geomancy | Cosmological and Astrological Diagrams | Islamic influences in Medieval Europe
Thesis
The Science of the Sand. Divination by Geomancy in Late Medieval Europe
My project offers an interdisciplinary study on medieval geomancy, a form of divination that entered Europe through the translations from Arabic made in the twelfth century.
My main case study is the Liber Arenalis Scientiae, translated by Plato of Tivoli from Arabic into Latin in 1135, of which I offer the first critical edition. Starting from the analysis of this text, I engage with a broader study on geomancy, analysing it from the perspectives of the History of Science, History of Philosophy and History of Art, following the development of this practice throughout the centuries.
Supervisors: Charles Burnett / Professor John Tresch