The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy

The ancient astronomical tradition is one of impressive duration andrichness. It begins with planet observations by the Babylonians in the secondmillenium BC and includes the development of an astronomy based on philosophicaland geometrical principles by the Greeks from Artistotle and to Ptolemy. Arenaissance of astronomy began in the ninth-century Islam and culminated incentral Europe with the astronomical revolution of the sixteenth century.Through this long history, Akkadian, Greek, Arabic, and Latin were successivelythe languages of scientific learning, but it was the Greek period thatdetermined the fundamental character of Western astronomy. This book brings thereader into direct contact with ancient astronomy. Throughout the book twoquestions constantly recur: what evidence permits us to reconstruct theastronomy of the ancient past? How was astronony actually practiced? The book ismeticulously documented and makes full use of primary sources as well as modernhistorical scholarship. Richly illustrated, the book is most striking for theclose attention it pays to the details of ancient astronomical practice.