Ancient Astronomers

Babylonians | Greeks | Egyptians | Others | Calendars

Before the invention of the telescope, modern mathematics, modern physics, and modern scientific methods, ancient civilizations were still able to discover an amazing amount of information about astronomy. All the planets in the solar system except for Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto were known to the ancients. Ancient Egyptians were able to figure out how long a year was based upon the movements of the sun and the flooding of the Nile River. Greeks were able to estimate the diameter of Earth to within 32 km (20 miles) long before Europeans "knew" the Earth was flat. This section contains this and much more information on ancient astronomy.

Purpose for Astronomy

There were always those who were interested in understanding the world around them for the interest in simply knowing, just as there are today. However, that didn't get ancient civilizations very far in a harsh and competitive world, so there had to be a productive reason for people to study astronomy.

The main agenda was to try to understand what was going on in order to predict what would happen. Often times, ancient astronomers were priests, and usually these priests were kept alive only so long as they accurately predicted events. Astronomical bodies, such as the sun, moon, and planets, were often seen as gods and goddesses. Predicting planetary positions were a way of predicting the wills and moods of the gods, and through an understanding of the gods they thought they could then foretell events such as if the rains would come soon or if an emperor would win a coming war.

Eclipses and comets were two of the most important phenomena to ancient people, for they believed that they were bringers of anything from a plague, defeat or victory in war, or the death of a ruler. Changes in the sky, such as a "new star*," were also seen as very important predictors of events to come, but such events much more rare.

* The specific reference to this is the supernova that formed the Crab Nebula that was observed on Earth and recorded by Chinese astronomers starting on A.D. July 4, 1054. It was visible in broad daylight for 23 days. Since people 1000 years ago did not know about such events as supernovae, they thought that it was a new star, and because of its temporary nature, it was also referred to as a "guest star."