Science in ancient Greece was a popular subject to research. Philosophers like Archimedes and Aristarchus were pioneers in the realm of mathematics, Archimedes calculated the value of pi, including the area of a circle, sphere and the area under a parabola. A major characteristic of the ancient sciences throughout the dawn of Greek science is the independence of older supernatural beliefs. Logic was their reason to find a better understanding of the universe. Supernatural beliefs are faith driven and simply cannot be proven, giving Philosophers more reason to look for more justifiable answers.
The very first records of science are in forms of clay tablets, some of which are still in remarkable condition, considering that some are dating as
…show more content…
They believed that their fate was not interchangeable, but a fixed fate governed by the cosmos. Divinatory literature was divided into different sections such as astrology, oneiromacy, haruspicy, and other related disciplines. The study of all of these are said to be in impressive detail. The most typical form of divinatory literature in the Babylonian culture was astrology. Horoscopes and the twelve Zodiac signs are examples of the original forms of ancient Mesopotamian astrology. Classic Akkadian astrology is described in a series of tablets called the Enuma Anu Enlil. Which covered a generous amount of …show more content…
The intrusiveness of space is what brought the orient and Greece to study astronomy. In hot climates, people would spend the nights outside, observing the changes of positions of the stars and moon every night. They observed the appearance and disappearance of constellations in conjunction with the season that they were in. In some aspects, the neighbors of Greece had different views on astronomy. Some, like the Egyptians had detailed calendars created by observing the night sky to depict the flooding of the Nile. Certain rituals were required to maintain the chronology in order. As for Greece, They were pretty advanced compared to their neighbors. Hipparchus of Nicea was a renowned astronomer, being able to calculate the entire length of the lunar month with a slight inaccuracy of lower than a second. He is the astronomer that tried to prove the earth is not at the center of everything, causing a possible revolution of knowledge at stake. If he was wrong, and everyone was being taught the wrong idea, it would set back their knowledge by a lot due to other future theories to go off of the original wrong theory. Luckily he was far from wrong, the world was then proved to be part of a solar system far from being the center of anything. Greek painting, architecture and philosophy can be simply neglected, but the astronomical advancements of their time was undeniably
The surest foundation for the origin of science in its practical form is to be found in the ìco–rdination and standardization of the knowledge of common sense and of industry.î[1] One of the first occurrences of this co–rdination can be traced back to 2500 BCE in the form of edicts from the ancient Babylonian rulers, who issued royal standards of length, weight and capacity. Non-Semitic Sumerians also laid down the elements of mathematics and geometry at that time, making use of fractions, decimals, circles and radial angles. But knowledge as we know it today was tightly woven with magical notions, and as both spread westward they instilled in European thought a reverence for ìspecial numbers, their connections to the gods and the application of geometrical diagrams to the prediction of the future.î[2] As well, the ancient Babylonians were fascinated by the heavens. They were the first to make a map of the stars and associate them with animals like the Ram, Crab and Scorpion, names that we still use to this day. They also realized the periodicity and reliability of astronomical movement and phenomena, and were soon able to predict many of them. Tablets have been found dating to the sixth century BCE that predicted the relative positions of the sun and moon, as well as forecasted the occurrences of eclipses.[3] Out of all this knowledge the Babylonians built up a fantastic system of astrology, through which the starsówhich were thought to fix and foretell the course of human affairsówould give up their secrets.
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)
The calendars and the calculations made are very important to the people’s culture and the importance of time. The Egyptians, Gregorian's, and the Mayans calendar all represent the importance of time in their culture. Each of these has different forms of finding the times and the creations of the calendars. The Egyptians created their calendars based on the Sirius, the Gregorian's creation was based on the Julian calendar, and the Mayans calendar was due to their astronomical table calculations. Each of these shows the different creations based on the people's cultures and beliefs.
Evidence of the mechanics on the evolution of social, religious and political values, as well as the fluctuating development of the role of women then and now, are present in these documents, beginning with the oldest document which is most likely the Epic of Gilgamesh, first passed on by word of mouth and later recorded by the Sumerians around the third millennium and finally edited and written down in cuneiform by the Babylonians.
The basic astrological assumptions are not hard to grasp. For if astronomy is the study of the movements of the heavenly bodies, then astrology is the study of the effects of those movements. The astronomers of the ancient world assumed a division of the universe whereby the superior, immutable bodies of the celestial worlds ruled over the terrestrial or sublunary sphere, where all was mortality and change. It was assumed that the stars had special qualities and influences which were transmitted downwards upon the passive earth, and which varied in their effect, according to the changing relationship of the heavenly bodies to each other. They were led to postulate a single system in which the seven moving stars or planet shifted their position in relation to the earth and each other, against a fixed backcloth of the twelve signs of the zodiac.
In astronomy, physics, mathematics, and medicine, Greek thinkers profited from the knowledge and techniques of the East. In Egypt, Alexandria grew into a renowned center of learning and inquiry. Most of its population spoke Greek, which rapidly became the tongue of educated people throughout the Hellenistic world. (p. 166).
Thousands of years ago, ancient people looked up at the night sky and spotted unfamiliar objects in the sky, known as stars. Some people saw the stars as a tool to navigate at night and to keep up with the seasons. Others were completely clueless about what the stars were and why there were up in the sky. This eventually led to curiosity and the beginning of astronomy. The very first astronomers grouped stars into constellations, which basically is connecting the stars to make an imaginary outline of people, object, or animals. This allowed the astronomers to keep track of the movement of the planets and the sun, which allowed them to create the very first accurate calendar to know when it was the right time to harvest and plant.
The Mesopotamian people valued a strict, rules-oriented society. This can be seen by examining the Mesopotamian social classes, government and job specialization. In The Code of Hammurabi, created by the King of Babylon in 1780 B.C.E. it was evident that there were rules for every thing, and every thing you do has a consequence. The Mesopotamian life style was very rigid; this lifestyle can lead to disputes and outbreaks, which can have negative consequences in society.
Ancient Greece, China, and India all had major contributions in the fields of science and math. All three of those ancient civilizations made such great contributions that they are still used today by many people. We use these contributions in school, work, and in our general every day lives. Although we don’t use the exact inventions that they created, we now use alterations of them every day. Greece’s discoveries have more of an influence on us today than those of India and China because we use these discoveries more often in the field of astronomy, theoretical sciences, important technology, and everyday mathematics.
As ancient peoples began to realize that sun, moon and stars follow certain rhythms in step with the seasons, they began to hypothesize that some conscious set of rules must be dictating these movements and seasonal changes that, for agrarian or pastoral soc...
Physics began when man first started to study his surroundings. Early applications of physics include the invention of the wheel and of primitive weapons. The people who built Stone Henge had knowledge of physical mechanics in order to move the rocks and place them on top of each other. It was not until during the period of Greek culture that the first systematic treatment of physics started with the use of mechanics. Thales is often said to have been the first scientist, and the first Greek philosopher. He was an astronomer, merchant and mathematician, and after visiting Egypt he is said to have originated the science of deductive geometry. He also discovered theorems of elementary geometry and is said to have correctly predicted an eclipse of the sun. Many of his studies were in astronomy but he also observed static electricity. Phythogoras was a Greek philosopher. He discovered simple numerical ratios relating the musical tones of major consonances, to the length of the strings used in sounding them. The Pythagorean theorem was named after him, although this fundamental statements of deductive geometry was most likely first an idea from Egyptian methods of measurements. With the help of his followers he discovered that the earth was a sphere, but he did not believe it revolved around the sun.
One cultural group was especially important for their discoveries in astronomy, the Egyptians. They were especially important because they were one of the first groups of people to create an accurate calendar. This calendar was different than others because it was based off of the Sun and stars rather than the moon. The calendars purpose was to make correct estimates of when to plan...
Astronomy dates back to ancient times when peoples such as the Babylonians, Egyptians, and Chinese kept written records of astronomical events and occurrences. Today’s seven day week originates from the Babylonians’ seven important bodies in the night sky: the Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn. The ancient Egyptians used the stars to align their pyramids and many of their corridors in almost perfect north-south or east-west directions. The Chinese were experts at predicting solar eclipses. They believed that a solar eclipse was a dangerous warning. Chinese astronomers were executed if they failed to predict an eclipse.
In those years science appeared in Egypt, Greece, India, etc. These ancient researchers put the foundations for the development of science and gave to the society very important information about astronomy, mathematics, physics and medicine. In this phase, we could report that the ideas were not very systematic. The theoretical development was at a very low level and so was the development in mathematics. The importance of this phase was the primitive discoveries that took place.