Ancient Astronomy: Insights from Mesopotamia to Greece

1. AncientAstronomy Chapter 3

2. Mesopotamian Astronomy Lots of data on planetary cycles, regularities and periodicities observed in the sky. • Babylonians ---Astrology. Predictions based on the influence of the Sun, Moon, and planets to natural events, i.e., floods, earthquakes, etc. • Egyptian astronomy • Greek Astronomy Miletus-Thales (600 BC), Anaximander, Anaximenes. Pythagoreans. New model of Solar system. Aristotle (384-322 BC) Aristarchus(300 BC), Eratosthenes (276-195) Radius of the Earth Hipparchus (134 BC) Catalog of brightest stars; Precession, his estimate 28,000 years. Ptolemy (127 AD). Accurate geocentric model, epicycles.

3. Fig. 3.2 Planetary configurations in Babylonian astronomy.

4. Fig. 3.3 Timetable of World Events and Famous People (Left) and Notable Greek Astronomers (right)

5. Fig. 3.5 Pythagorean Model

6. Fig. 3.7 Aristotle’s argument that the earth must be a sphere

7. Fig. 3.8 Another Aristotle’s argument that the Earth is sphere

8. Fig. 3.9 Aristarchus’s (310-230 B.C) Calculation of Moon’s diameter and distance from Earth

9. Fig. 3.10 Small angle formula

10. Fig. 3.11

11. Fig. 3.12

12. Fig. 3.13

13. Fig. 3.14 Eratosthenes’s (276-195 B.C) calculation of the earth’s radius

14. Fig. 3.15 Precession of the earth’s axis (Hipparchus (134 B.C)

15. Fig. 3.16 Precession of the celestial equator

16. Fig. 3.17 Ptolemy’s model

17. Fig. 3.18 The Geocentric Model

18. Fig. 3.19