#celestial globe

The Astronomer, 1668

▪︎ Lane's Pocket Terrestrial and Celestial Globe.

Date: 1811

Place of origin: London

A Celestial Globe, from 1770, in the Deutsches Museum

Helluva Boss (2021)

Don’t worry: no plot spoilers

The demons in Helluva Boss are inspired by the demons from the goetic grimoire Ars Goetia. In particular:

Stolas (also known as Stolos, Stoppas and Solas) is "a Great Prince of Hell, commands twenty-six legions of demons. He teaches astronomy and is knowledgeable about herbs, plants, and precious stones. He is often depicted as a raven or a crowned owl with long legs.

Sound familiar?

The decorations in Stolas’ manor are particularly beautifully done and are often clearly inspired by a combination of astronomy and plants.

The chandelier(? Lamp? Dining room decoration?) in the dining room appears to be a beautifully crafted brass/gold armillary sphere that even rotates on its axis

Armillary spheres are a common decoration for astronomy-inspired decorations, but a nice touch to this armillary sphere is the distinct angle it rotates at. In armillary spheres on Earth, this angle is the result of the tit of the planet (which on Earth is 23.5 degrees) and the surrounding arc represents the path that the sun travels around the Earth

In Stolas’ mansion, this armillary sphere sits at around 40 degrees. From an artistic perspective, I suspect this is to make the silhouette of the decoration read better to an audience. But it could also imply that hell is at a 40 degree tilt to its sun

This view appears in Season 1 Episode 7 “Ozzie’s” (3:27)

Ptolemaic armillary sphere from the Science Museum Group

There is a closer view in Season 2 Episode 1 “The Circus” (18:19)

The entire mansion is filled with astronomical devices and decorations

In the same episode (12:42) in Octavia’s room there is what appears to be an orrery on the ceiling of her bedroom. An orrery is a model to illustrate the relative positions/motions of the planets of moons in a solar system. Turns out hell has a lot of planets!

Since the orrery is on the ceiling it is hard to get a full view of it

The best view is probably in n Season 1 Episode 2 “Loo Loo Land” (2:48) where the center star is more visible

Orrery planetary model from the Science Museum Group

Finally, there is a device in this same episode that is easy to miss (I only noticed it while reviewing clips for more angles of the orrery). At 2:30, blink and you’ll miss it. Hard to see it fully but it appears similar to celestial and terrestrial globes with arcs for the path of the moon or sun

English terrestrial globe with Moon arm from the Science Museum Group

And yes, everyone should watch this show. All episodes are on Youtube

Celestial globe

Pakistan

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