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Seleucus the Babylonian (1)

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05 Scientific knowledge and scholarly lore
02 Religious and ideological symbols and iconographic motifs
02 Religious and ideological symbols and iconographic motifs


 		Keywords
astronomy
Greece
sun
Period
2nd century BCE 		Channel
No channel specified

Text
Seleucus the Babylonian was a contemporary of the Greek astronomer Hipparchus and is credited by Posidonius, the Stoic philosopher from Apamea-on-Orontes, with postulating that the Sun was the centre of the universe. Seleucus adopted this bold and impious teaching from Aristarchus of Samos, and advanced new arguments in its support. He argued that the earth has a double motion, revolving round the sun and spinning on its own axis; at the same time he offered a better explanation than any other for the tidal movements which he probably had observed in the Persian Gulf, by connecting them with the phases of the moon.

Bibliography

Cumont 1912, 67-68Cumont, Franz. Astrology and Religion among the Greeks and Romans. American Lectures on the History of Religions 8. New York, London: G. P. Putnam's Sons 1912.
Dalley 1998, 48Dalley, Stephanie. “Occasions and Opportunities.” In: S. Dalley (ed.). The Legacy of Mesopotamia. Oxford: Oxford University Press 1998, 9-55.

Amar Annus


URL for this entry: http://www.aakkl.helsinki.fi/melammu/database/gen_html/a0000787.php

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