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ANCIENT ASTRONOMY
Humankind’s fascination with the stars
Mesopotamian Astronomy
 The Mesopotamians had two sets of
constellations:
 The Divine set representing their mythology.
These constellations changed depending on which gods
were dominate. Three constellations that remain are
Taurus, Leo, Scorpio.
 The rustic set representing the calendar for farming,
and the everyday life of the people.
e.g. They started plowing the spring with the helical rising
of the mul-Apin (Plow or Triangulum).
Egyptian Astronomy
 The Egyptians used the rising of Sothis (Sirius) before
Sun at the summer solstice to mark the new year, and
the advent of the flooding of the Nile.
 Many of the Egyptian temples and pyramids were built in
alignment with stars and constellations.
 Egyptian astronomers were known by the Greeks to be
able to predict solar eclipses with a great deal of
accuracy.
Egyptian star chart
This chart was found on the ceiling of the tomb of Senmut, vizier of Queen Hatshepsut.
Dated at late spring 1534 b.c., It records a unique pattern of planetary positions,
and a solar eclipse that occurred around the same time. The planets, except for Mars,
were closely positioned within a certain sector of the sky.
Arabian Astronomy
 Many constellations of the rustic set
of Mesopotamian constellations are
found among the Arabian star
charts.
 Pre-Islamic Arabs used the rising
and setting of specific stars or anwa’
to mark the times of seasonal
changes .
 There were 28 anwa’ periods
throughout the year, along with the
28 lunar mansions.
astrolabe by Abd al-Karim al-Misri with
pictorial representations of the 28 lunar
mansions and 12 signs of the zodiac
Greek Astronomy
 Most, if not all, of the divine set of Mesopotamian
constellations were used by the Greeks in their star
charts. This is one of the major sources for the
constellations in the zodiac.
 Other Greek constellations originated as markers for sea
navigation. Large, easily identified constellations marked
the poles and the equator.
Classical Greek star charts
The Southern Hemisphere
The Northern Hemisphere
Hipparchus of Rhodes
 Hipparchus devised the celestial grid system by
which astronomers record the locations of star in
modern star catalogs. He devised that grid
system as a way to systematically chart the stars.
His motivation was seeing what he thought was a
new star in the Scorpio constellation in 135 b.c.
 He also calculated distances from the earth to
the sun, and from the earth to the moon by
measuring shadows at various locations during
eclipses.
Bibliography
 John H. Rogers, Origins of the ancient constellations, Journal of the
British Astronomical Association, vol.108, no.1, p.9-28, 02/1998.
 Ove von Spaeth, Dating Egypt’s oldest star map, Sunday, August
01, 2010, http://www.moses-egypt.net/star-map/senmut1mapdate_en.asp
 Gary David Thompson, Astronomical Artifacts and Cuneiform
Tablets, etc, Saturday, July 24, 2010,
http://members.westnet.com.au/Gary-David-Thompson/page1113.html
 Gary David Thompson, Astronomical Artifacts and Cuneiform
Tablets, etc, Monday, June 14, 2010
http://members.westnet.com.au/Gary-David-Thompson/page1121.html