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MOSAIC Panel at Celestial Crossroads Conference, Istanbul
On April 28th 2026, five members of the ERC Synergy MOSAIC team participated in the conference “Celestial Crossroads: Encounters, Intersections, and Influences” in Istanbul. The event took place at the Sophia Center and was jointly arranged by Yıldız Technical University, the Sophia Centre, and the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. The panel, organized by Dominique Sirgy (University of South Carolina), explored the linkages between celestial agency, imperial geographies, spiritual beings, divination, and psychology.
Godefroid de Callataÿ (UC Louvain) launched the panel by examining astrological foundation accounts of Islamic cities with a focus on the ʿAbbāsid imperial legitimation strategy of placing of Baghdad within the Sasanian astrological tradition. Following this, Petra Schmidl (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg) presented candidates for the study of Arabic premodern prognostic handbooks and presented their suitability for analysis based on their range of practices and level of systematization. Matteo Martelli (University of Bologna) gave a paper on Syriac cosmological doctrines against the broader context of Syriac scientific literature and Late Antique and Byzantine portrayals of Apollonius as a master of divination and magic. For her talk, Laura Tribuzio (UC Louvain) discussed portrayals of intermediary beings and heavenly signs in two Persian works associated with the Brethren of Purity: Būstān al-ʿUqūl (713/1313) and Mujmal al-ḥikma (13th c.). Razieh Mousavi’s (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg) paper on astral knowledge in Ibn Duraid’s Book of Rain explored this author’s methods for the treatment of meteorological signs as well as his reliance on semiotic interpretation. Dominique Sirgy closed the panel with a discussion of Husayn ʿAqīlī Rustamdārī’s (fl. 16th century) encyclopedia Riyāż al-abrār and the Indic as well as Arabic philosophical and theological sources that informed this author’s theory of the mind’s control over matter therein.
In line with the stated aims of the ERC MOSAIC Synergy Project, the synergistic expertise of the speakers allowed for the presentation of a range of epistemologies of astrological theory and practice across the Arabic, Persian, and Syriac traditions. Over the three-day conference, panelists also engaged with the international community of historians of science in rich discussions, Q&A sessions, and organized conference gatherings. These scholarly exchanges fostered valuable opportunities for collaboration, as participants connected themes across their work and reexamined questions central to both the conference and the MOSAIC Project.
