Focus on Catherine of Alexandria (Palladas) and analyze the Scientific Element.
Countless researchers have studied the painting due to its scientific component.  Historian Flora Vafea wrote a detailed analysis of the painting in her paper entitled The Astronomical Instruments in Saint Catherine’s iconography at the Holy Monastery of Sinai.  The paper details the intricate scientific element within the painting.  In front of the spiked wheel on top of two books, the painter adds an astronomical instrument.  Palladas painted intricate details on the device.  The astronomical instrument was the pictorial representation of astronomical scientific knowledge at that time.The instrument was called System of the Universe (Σύστημα τοῦ Παντός). The instrument is a solid globe.  It contains detailed inscriptions relating to astronomy.  It offers five parallel segments the arctic circle, summer colure or (summer tropic), equator, winter colure or (winter tropic), and the antarctic circle.  It also features two depictions of the zodiac.  The circle turns either left or right.  It features unequal divisions of zodiac signs.  There are unequal divisions of ecliptic symbols longer at the center and shorter at the sides.The celestial spheres are drawn from the Ptolemaic system.  Earth is depicted as a blue sphere with circles of geographic coordinates.  The line representing the axis of the Earth covers the entire instrument.  The Earth casts a bluish shadow on the opposite side of the Sun, and the Moon turns its illuminated part towards the Sun.  There are twelve more spheres.  The spheres are named in Greek: Selene (moon), Hermes (Mercury), Aphrodite (Venus), Helios (Sun), Ares (Mars), Zeus (Jupiter), and Chronos (Saturn). They are also represented by unique symbols.  Fixed stars are also present, they are painted as red and white spots.  The depiction of the stars and the five circles on the celestial globes was observed by astronomers Geminus and Leontios Mechanikos.The five parallel celestial circles outline six zones.  A greek phrase is written on the outer circle outlining the different phases of the sun.  The instrument features attributes of the sun written in Greek.  In the north, it outlines: frigid, temperate, and torrid.  In the south, it outlines: torrid, temperate and frigid.  The painter also adds a zodiac circle on the slanted line of the instrument.  It also features the symbols for Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces.  The lines are separated by degrees.  The instrument also features a calendar and a meridian ring.  The instrument closely resembles an astrolabe.  His contemporaries added an armillary sphere or a celestial globe in their versions of his painting.
spiked wheel Hermes Catherine Selene astrolabe Astronomical Instrument colure Aphrodite armillary sphere Chronos Saint Catherine Palladas left Ares celestial globe Zeus Geminus Helios