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The celestial observations (1)

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Topics (move over topic to see place in topic list) Astronomical and astrological texts 05 Scientific knowledge and scholarly lore 05.01 Astrological and astronomical knowledge and theories 05.01.10 Astronomical and astrological texts	Keywords astronomy Mesopotamia
Period 4th century CE 6th century CE Byzantine Empire Roman Empire	Channel Helleno-Roman philosophers and scholars

Text
The Babylonians made accurate celestial observations for a long time before they developed their mathematical astronomy. Simplicius, for example, in his commentary on Aristotle’s De Caelo (6th century CE) speaks of a sequence of observations sent by Callisthenes to Aristotle (4th century BCE) which had extended over 1903 years. We may take with a grain of salt the assertion of Iamblichus (ca. 250-330 CE) that the Babylonians had observed the stars for 72,000 years.

Bibliography

Rutten 1960, 89-90

Rutten, Marguerite. La Science des Chaldéens. Paris: Presses universitaires de France 1960.

Amar Annus

URL for this entry: http://www.aakkl.helsinki.fi/melammu/database/gen_html/a0001070.php

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