The Ancient Catalogs

2046 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Greek, Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations

1. The Ancient Catalogs

Astronomy was born in the five cradles of civilization, along the Nile Valley in Egypt, the Indus Valley along the western region of the Indian subcontinent, the Chinese city states on the banks of the Yellow River, the ancient regions of Me-soamerica from central Mexico down to the Andean South America and the an-cient city states of Mesopotamia in the fertile crescent. Each of these ancient cul-tures incorporated astronomy into calendar making, religion, mythology, and astrology. Many of these civilizations kept various forms of stars charts, but some of the most complete came Mesopotamia.

Many ancient empires lived in the fertile crescent of Mesopotamia (“the land be-tween the rivers”). The Tigris and the Euphrates rivers provided water and rich fertile soil. It was the origin for the ancient societies of Sumer, Ubaid, Assyria, Akkaid and Babylonia. The oldest known astronomical observations appear in Babylonian Enuma Anu Enlil (translation “In the days of Anu and Enlil”) dating from 1200 BC. Tablet 63 of the Enuma Anu Enlil described the rising and setting of Venus over a period of 21 years. Another Babylonian text containing a compi-lation of astronomical data is the Mul-Apin. The Mul-Apin, written between 1200 and 1000 BC, presented a catalog of major stars and constellations along with their locations. The constellations described in the Mul-Apin are recognized today as the Bull (Taurus), the Lion (Leo), the Scorpion (Scorpio), and the Twins (Ge-mini) and the Sea Goat (Capricorn). Other parts of the Mul-Apin describe methods to measure the length of the day with water clocks and the gnomon. There are some historians that believe the astronomical observations of the night sky led the Babylonians t...

... middle of paper ...

...lding 160 feet in diameter and 120 feet tall. The observatory contained a marble sextant, an armil-lary sphere, and a triquetram. The most significant instrument of the Samarkand Observatory was a giant marble quadrant known as the Fakhri Quadrant. It ran through the center of the observatory between two high walls in a semi circle from the ceiling on one side of the building sloping downward below the floor and arc-ing up to the ceiling of the opposite wall. Along the arc ran two set of marble tiles inscribed with digit marking the degrees. The astronomers would sight the star through a small circular sighting device at the top of one wall and record their po-sition along the marble scale. The enormous size of the quadrant, a radius of 116 feet and an optical separability of 180 seconds of arc allowed for measurements to be more accurate than ever before achieved.

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of The Mystery Of Chaco Canyon

    736 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ancient Pueblo Indians had a great understanding of astronomy. All of the pueblos in the canyon were aligned to match the movements of the sun and moon. Also, they marked their complexes with daggers and spirals to keep up with the moon cycles and sun movements. The film explains that the moon moves north for nearly ten years and then south for about ten years. To fully understand this cycle of the moon, Pueblo people had to study it for years in order to build their Pueblos in relations to it. The sun however, was different because it set and rose in the same position. The concept of building structures in an astronomical pattern this complex cannot be found anywhere else.

    Read More

  • Comparing the Epic of Gilgamesh Flood Myth and Book of Genesis Biblical Flood Myth

    1787 Words  | 4 Pages

    Column 1 on Tablet 11 begins the Sumero-Babylonian Flood narrative (Gardner 226). The sage Utnap...

    Read More

  • Middle Ages Vs Renaissance Dbq

    513 Words  | 2 Pages

    In document C, Ptolemy had a theory where the Earth was the center of the Solar System. Other scientists also had this theory when they were examining the stars and Earth's rotation. But other scientists figured out that the Sun was the center of the Solar System instead of Earth. Document D shows the zodiacs and how the stars lining up. These documents show how advance the people in the Renaissance were. Ptolemy and Copernicus were very advanced as well when they had their theories on the Solar System. Also when they would use the stars and constellations for the zodiac symbolizations (Doc

    Read More

  • Greek Mythology vs. Ancient Near East Mytholgy

    1268 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gordon, Cyrus. The Ancient Near East. 3rd Edition, Revised. W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., New York, 1965.

    Read More

  • Exploring the Astronomy of the Ancient Inca Empire

    1550 Words  | 4 Pages

    “New World Romans” is what Aveni called these ancient astronomers. Settled in what now is Peru in 1400 to 1532 C.E, the Inca Empire was a large and sophisticated society that was later conquered by the Spanish. Many mysteries were left untold in their 132-year reign. Along with their mysteries, their beautiful land housed a complex system called the Ceque System. Understanding the Ceque system gives us a painting of the civilization and how they operated. The Ceque being a centralized system brought everything together, from religion, calendar to even their hydrology (Aveni, 138). As the “New World Romans” emerged early 15th century, it is with no doubt this civilization paid attention to the heavens above and has

    Read More

  • A Critical Review of the Introduction (pp.xi-xvi) to Cumont, Franz, Astrology Among The Greeks and Romans, New York: Dover Publications 1960 (1911)

    1081 Words  | 3 Pages

    Clarke, Leonard W.‘Greek Astronomy and Its Debt to the Babylonians' The British Journal for the History of Science, Vol. 1, No. (Cambridge University Press. 1962)

    Read More

  • Powers of Mesopotamian Female Gods

    2063 Words  | 5 Pages

    The powers of Mesopotamian deities are seen in the various ways affecting lives of people in that era. These powers can be observed in the art, culture, traditions, religious activities, civilization and many more. Mesopotamian culture and their civilization started upon the development of the first cities on the end of the fourth millennium up to the near beginning of the years of the Roman Empire. In this era, Mesopotamian religion, which pertains to the religious practices and principles pursued by the Sumerian and Akkadian had a great influence in the different aspects of Mesopotamia, such as in their behavior, political planning and decision making and ways of living. Akkadian is also known as Assyrian or the Babylonian. They were the group of people that governed Mesopotamia for 4200 years from the era of fourth BC up to around third century. Polytheistic was the religion in Mesopotamia wherein people in this place worship more than 2100 different Gods and Goddesses, These Goddesses were adored in connection with the particular city or state they were just like for instance, Akkad, Assyria, Nineveh, Ur, Uruk, Mari and Babylon. Many deities have the same characteristics with that of the Sumerian and Babylonian Goddesses. Babylonians accepted most of the Sumerian great people when they held them in control. Deities were given another name as their nicknames. Of all those 2100 various kinds of deities, most of the major Goddesses are Anu, Ea, Enlil, Ishtar,(Astarte) Ashur, Shamash, Tammuzz, Adad/ Hadad, Sin (Nanna), Dagan, Ninurta, Niscorch, Nergal, Tiamat Bel and Marduk. What are these female deities’ prominent characteristics that affect the lives of Mesopotamian? What are the importance of their style and the connections t...

    Read More

  • The Tower Of Babel: The Assyrians In Ancient Rome

    504 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Babylonians specialized in architecture and astronomy. The Babylonian astronomers believed that the position of the stars and planets reflected the mood of the gods and affected life on earth. Hammarabi wrote his code of laws around this time as well. Hammurabi united most of

    Read More

  • What Astronomy Really Is

    3723 Words  | 8 Pages

    I know that astronomy is getting more popular by the day since the comet came and all those people got killed. But that really did not have anything to do with astronomy, so I am not going to get into that. To me astronomy is really cool. If you have a telescope and it is a clear night you can see different constellations such as: Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Hercules, Pegasus, Perseus there are many more that is so cool. But it is even cooler to look up and see them in the sky. To do all of that you first have to be in the correct place. What you can do first is look for the north star, when you find that then you are all set. If you cannot find it just simply face north and look for the brightest star in that direction. If you still cannot find it buy a compass then hopefully you will find it. If you still cannot find it ask somebody, I made no grantee that you would find it these ways. That is really all I know about astronomy, but after this paper I bet you I will know a whole lot more.

    Read More

  • The Epic of Gilgamesh Story

    742 Words  | 2 Pages

    Located in the city of Uruk in Sumeria, the epic of Gilgamesh was an old describing king Gilgamesh’s reign around 26000 B.C.E. By oral tradition, the story was passed down through generations. In 750 B.C.E, finally written in cuneiform, the story talked about the monarchial government structure within an urbanized city. Many gods were worshipped in temples in this well-recognized polytheistic city. In order to protect its enemies during times of war and citizens from attacks, Uruk also had walls surrounding the city. As their main sources of crop, the society survived on wheat and grain agriculture. Known as the Fertile Crescent, the land was productive and fertile at that time. Due to the overall leadership that king Gilgamesh offered, the city did well for itself.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Mesopotamia And Egyptian Civilization

    1344 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mesopotamia, which was established in the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers around 4000 B.C. had made its mark on history by leaving behind a countless number of contributions, many of which are still practiced in today’s world, or at least have paved the way to further innovations. Their most important contributions would include the development of money, a system of time keeping, and

    Read More

  • Math and Science of Ancient Greece, India, and China

    2061 Words  | 5 Pages

    Astronomy is a very important field in science. Ancient Greece, China, and India all contributed to our everyday ideas and uses of astronomy. Ancient Greece was the most influential because the Indian’s based most of their astronomy off of Greece. The Greeks created calendars that were based off of the eclipse cycle, which they called by two different names, Hellenic Calendars and Lunisolar Calendars. Because of Ancient Greece, we now have calendars to keep us on track every day. The Greeks observed a celestial object passing through the eastern and western morning sky. After a long time of observations, they came to a realization that it was a planet and now that is the planet is well known as Venus. (Sarton, 75) Plato and Aristotle’s theories were incredible contributions on us today. Both of their theories were all about the behavior and life of the planets, such as their theory that the earth is spherical. (Sarton, 421). Ancient Greece als...

    Read More

  • The Epic Of Gilgamesh, Poem, And The Enuma Elish

    953 Words  | 2 Pages

    Centuries before Julius Cesar, Galileo, Aristotle, Socrates, and albert Einstein; There was an ancient civilization that arose out of nowhere. They Settled upon the Tigris, and Euphrates Rivers, known as the fertile crest of Mesopotamia. These settlers are known as the Sumerians. The Sumerians were an agricultural society, who lived off their crops and the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers to trade goods. So when presented the terrible question “Why they existed?” The Sumerians believed that they existed to serve their gods by worship and dedicated work. Through the Sumerian Literature, architecture, and artwork the Sumerians let their purpose be known.

    Read More

  • Library of Alexandria

    1284 Words  | 3 Pages

    HOW WAS THE GREAT LIBRAY OF ALEXANDRIA ORGANIZED AND OPERATED? WHO OR WHAT CAUSED ITS DESTRUCTION?

    Read More

  • The Milky Way Galaxy

    1798 Words  | 4 Pages

    The first person to ever observe the Milky Way was Greek philosopher, Democritus, who said the galaxy may consist of distant stars. In 1610, Galileo Galilei used a telescope to study the Milky Way and came to the conclusion that it was composed of billions and billions of faint stars. Then, in 1750, Thomas Wright c...

    Read More

More about The Ancient Catalogs

Open Document