Prior to the introduction of the cross staff by the Portuguese about 1514, the only method of taking an altitude of a celestial body at sea was by use of the astrolabe or derivatives of it like the quadrant. The astrolabe was developed prior to the Christian era in classical Greece as an instrument for measuring altitudes and calculating sunrise and sunset, and is mentioned by Ptolemy. Its principal use from early times was in astronomy. However, it was during the phase of Islamic scientific development that it became refined and by about ad 800 it had achieved a high degree of accuracy. Islam had a keen interest in astronomy as a means of calculating prayer times and finding the direction of Mecca. The instrument arrived in Europe via Spain where it was introduced by the Islamic invaders. But it was the need to define a vessel's position at sea, which became more urgent as the European exploration of the world commenced in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries that led to a simpler form of the astrolabe being introduced for maritime navigators. This was known as the mariner's or sea astrolabe whose sole purpose was to measure altitudes of celestial bodies at sea.
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