Stamatina Mastorakou in front of a book shelf
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Stamatina Mastorakou

Research Scholar (Sep 2022–Aug 2025)

Dr.

Stamatina Mastorakou is the leader of the Working Group “Visualization and Material Cultures of the Heavens in Eurasia and North Africa (4000 BCE–1700 CE)” and the book review editor of Aestimatio.

Tina’s research focuses on the history of ancient astronomy and is based on literary and archeological sources. Tina has a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in History and Philosophy of Science from the University of Athens, Greece, and a PhD from Imperial College, University of London, in the History of Hellenistic Astronomy. She has extensive teaching and research experience at institutions in the US, Greece, Germany, Switzerland, and the UK. As a Research Scholar at MPIWG, Tina is working on her second monograph The Popularization of Astronomical Knowledge in Antiquity: Shaping Celestial Imagery through Poetry, Art and Politics. Her book explores the production and dissemination of astral knowledge in the Hellenistic world, which was shaped by the popular astronomical poem Phaenomena by Aratus, the political agenda of the Antigonids, and the creation of celestial globes and artistic objects with astral imagery.

Current Projects

Image Database: Visualization of the Heavens
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Visualization of the Heavens Working Group
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Completed Projects

Representations of Celestial Maps in the Hellenistic World
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Selected Publications

Brentjes, Rana, Sonja Brentjes, and Stamatina Mastorakou, eds. (2024). Imagining the Heavens Across Eurasia from Antiquity to Early Modernity. Milan: Mimesis Edizioni.

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Mastorakou, Stamatina (2024). “Visualization of Astronomical Knowledge in Hellenistic Times: Aratus, Urania and the Celestial Globe.” In Imagining the Heavens across Eurasia from Antiquity to Early Modernity, ed. R. Brentjes, S. Brentjes, and S…

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Mastorakou, Stamatina (2024). “Ancient Globes of Larissa.” Globe Studies 68 (2023): 115–126.

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Mastorakou, Stamatina (2024). “Antike Globen in Larissa.” Der Globusfreund 68 (2023): 117–128.

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Upcoming Events

External/Cooperation Event

Visualising Time-Space in East Asia: Mapping ‘Round Heavens & Square Earth’ from Ancient Rotating Devices to Late Modern Commercial Maps

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Colloquium

Emerging Traditions in Zodiac Representations in the Hellenistic Era

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External/Cooperation Event

Maps and Mapping in Global Cultural Perspectives: Temporality in Map History

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Past Events

Field Trip

Objects Revealed: Unveiling Astral Manuscripts from the Berlin Turfan Collection

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Lecture

Archaeology of the Astral: Mingling of Astrological and Cosmological Ideas in the Context of Sea Trade between Early Historic India and Roman Egypt (1st c. BCE–5th c. CE)

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Institute's Colloquium

Approaching, Translating, and Engaging Cosmology

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Field Trip

Celestial Globes in Your Hands

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Field Trip

Heavens in Your Hand: Astral Knowledge of Ancient and Medieval Coins

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Colloquium

The Written Forms of External Medicine in the Seventeenth Century: The Case of Waike Zhengzong

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Colloquium

Knowledge-Making after Farming Manuals: Farming Progress Dispatches in Late Chosŏn Korea

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Colloquium

Ploughing for Knowledge: Tao Zongyi (1316-?)

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Conference

Tombs and Astral Knowledge from Egypt to China (1000 BCE–1000 CE)

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Colloquium

Internal Rotation/s. Sociomaterial practices and Embodiments in Hugo Sellheim’s Experiments on Birth Mechanics

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Colloquium

The Making of Calculable Territory in Song Dynasty China, 1000–1250

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Talk

The Mystery of the Seventeenth-Century Telescope: A Whodunit

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Colloquium

Numeracy and Administration in the Ancient Greek and Roman World

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Colloquium

Science as Prophecy: Measuring Climates Past and Future

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Colloquium

Reading Celestial Omens in Turfan and Dunhuang. Babylonian Divination Models and their Medieval Reception on the Silk Road

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News & Press

In Pictures: Researchers Pitch at MPIWG's Spring Publications Slam

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Call for participation in "Visualizations of the Heavens" database summer workshops

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