Babylonian astronomy in the context of "Greek astronomy"

⭐ In the context of Greek astronomy, which earlier astronomical tradition exerted the most significant influence on its development and subsequent dissemination throughout the Muslim world during the Middle Ages?

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⭐ Core Definition: Babylonian astronomy

Babylonian astronomy was the study or recording of celestial objects during the early history of Mesopotamia. The numeral system used, sexagesimal, was based on 60, as opposed to ten in the modern decimal system. This system simplified the calculating and recording of unusually great and small numbers.

During the 8th and 7th centuries BC, Babylonian astronomers developed a new empirical approach to astronomy. They began studying and recording their belief system and philosophies dealing with an ideal nature of the universe and began employing an internal logic within their predictive planetary systems. This was an important contribution to astronomy and the philosophy of science, and some modern scholars have thus referred to this approach as a scientific revolution. This approach to astronomy was adopted and further developed in Greek and Hellenistic astrology. Classical Greek and Latin sources frequently use the term Chaldeans for the philosophers, who were considered as priest-scribes specializing in astronomical and other forms of divination. Babylonian astronomy paved the way for modern astrology and is responsible for its spread across the Graeco-Roman empire during the 2nd-century Hellenistic Period. The Babylonians used the sexagesimal system to trace the planets' transits, by dividing the 360 degree sky into 30 degrees, they assigned 12 zodiacal signs to the stars along the ecliptic.

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👉 Babylonian astronomy in the context of Greek astronomy

Ancient Greek astronomy is the astronomy written in the Greek language during classical antiquity. Greek astronomy is understood to include the Ancient Greek, Hellenistic, Greco-Roman, and late antique eras. Ancient Greek astronomy can be divided into three phases, with Classical Greek astronomy being practiced during the 5th and 4th centuries BC, Hellenistic astronomy from the 3rd century BC until the formation of the Roman Empire in the late 1st century BC, and Greco-Roman astronomy continuing the tradition in the Roman world. During the Hellenistic era and onwards, Greek astronomy expanded beyond the geographic region of Greece as the Greek language had become the language of scholarship throughout the Hellenistic world, in large part delimited by the boundaries of the Macedonian Empire established by Alexander the Great. The most prominent and influential practitioner of Greek astronomy was Ptolemy, whose Almagest shaped astronomical thinking until the modern era. Most of the most prominent constellations known today are taken from Greek astronomy, albeit via the terminology they took on in Latin.

Greek astronomy was influenced heavily by Babylonian astronomy, as well as Egyptian astronomy to a lesser degree. In later centuries, Greek-language astronomical works were translated into other languages, enabling their further spread. Most notably, Arabic translations of these works benefitted astronomers and mathematicians throughout the Muslim world during the Middle Ages.

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Babylonian astronomy in the context of Astronomy

Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxies, meteoroids, asteroids, and comets. Relevant phenomena include supernova explosions, gamma ray bursts, quasars, blazars, pulsars, and cosmic microwave background radiation. More generally, astronomy studies everything that originates beyond Earth's atmosphere. Cosmology is the branch of astronomy that studies the universe as a whole.

Astronomy is one of the oldest natural sciences. The early civilizations in recorded history made methodical observations of the night sky. These include the Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, Indians, Chinese, Maya, and many ancient indigenous peoples of the Americas. In the past, astronomy included disciplines as diverse as astrometry, celestial navigation, observational astronomy, and the making of calendars.

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Babylonian astronomy in the context of Zodiac

The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north and south celestial latitude of the ecliptic – the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. Within this zodiac belt appear the Moon and the brightest planets, along their orbital planes. The zodiac is divided along the ecliptic into 12 equal parts, called "signs", each occupying 30° of celestial longitude. These signs roughly correspond to the astronomical constellations with the following modern names: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces.

The signs have been used to determine the time of the year by identifying each sign with the days of the year the Sun is in the respective sign. In Western astrology, and formerly astronomy, the time of each sign is associated with different attributes. The zodiacal system and its angular measurement in 360 sexagesimal degree (°) originated with Babylonian astronomy during the 1st millennium BC, probably during the Achaemenid Empire. It was communicated into Greek astronomy by the 2nd century BC, as well as into developing the Hindu zodiac. Due to the precession of the equinoxes, the time of year that the Sun is in a given constellation has changed since Babylonian times, and the point of March equinox has moved from Aries into Pisces.

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Babylonian astronomy in the context of Nabu

Nabu (Akkadian: 𒀭𒀝, romanized: Nabû, Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: נְבוֹ‏, romanized: Nəḇo) is the Babylonian patron god of literacy, scribes, wisdom, and the rational arts. He is associated with the classical planet Mercury in Babylonian astronomy.

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Babylonian astronomy in the context of Berossus

Berossus (/bəˈrɒsəs/) or Berosus (/bəˈroʊsəs/; Ancient Greek: Βηρωσσός, romanized: Bērōssos; possibly derived from Late Babylonian Akkadian: 𒁹𒀭𒂗𒉺𒇻𒋙𒉡, romanized: Bēl-reʾû-šunu, lit. 'Bel is his shepherd') was an early-3rd-century BCE Hellenistic-era Babylonian writer, priest of Bel Marduk, and astronomer who wrote in the Koine Greek language.

His original works, including the Babyloniaca (Ancient Greek: Βαβυλωνιακά), are lost, but fragments survive in some quotations, largely in the writings of the fourth-century CE early Christian writer Eusebius.

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LINKED FROM (PARENTS)
← Astronomy ← Greek astronomy ← Ancient Greek astronomy ← Zodiac ← Astronomical ← Zodiac constellation ← Zodiac symbol ← Nabu ← Berossus ← History of Iraq
LINKS TO (CHILDREN)
Babylon → Halley's comet → Celestial object → Mesopotamia → Numeral system → Sexagesimal → Decimal → Empirical → Belief → Universe → Consistency proof → Philosophy of science → Ancient Greek astronomy → Hellenistic astrology → Chaldea → Priest → Scribes → Divination → Hellenistic Period →