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'' in 1980.) The development of astronomy by the Greek and Hellenistic astronomers is considered by historians to be a major phase in the History Of Astronomy in Western Culture . It depended heavily on Babylonia n astronomy; in turn, it influenced Islamic Astronomy , and Medieval and Renaissance Europe an astronomy. ARCHAIC GREEK ASTRONOMY References to identifiable Stars and Constellations appear in the writings of Homer and Hesiod , the earliest surviving examples of Greek literature. In the '' Iliad '' and the '' Odyssey '', Homer refers to the following celestial objects:
Hesiod, who wrote in the early 7th century BCE, adds the star Arcturus to this list in his poetic Calendar ''Works and Days''. Though neither Homer nor Hesiod set out to write a Scientific work, they hint at a rudimentary Cosmology of a Flat Earth surrounded by an " Ocean River ." Some stars rise and set (disappear into the ocean); others are Ever-visible . At certain times of the year, certain stars will rise or set at Sunrise or Sunset . Cosmological speculation was a theme of Pre-Socratic Philosophy in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE. Anaximander (c.610 BC–c. 546 BC) described a cylindrical earth suspended in the center of the Cosmos , surrounded by rings of fire. Philolaus (c. 480 BC–c. 405 BC) the Pythagorean described a cosmos with the stars, Planets , Sun , Moon , Earth , and a Counter-Earth (Greek '' Antichthon '')--ten bodies in all--circling an unseen central fire. Such reports show that Greeks of the 6th and 5th centuries were aware of the planets and speculated about the structure of the cosmos. The planets in early Greek astronomy The name "planet" comes from the Greek term πλανήτης, ''planētēs'', meaning "wanderer", as ancient astronomers noted how certain lights moved across the sky in relation to the other stars. Five planets can be seen with the , Venus , Mars , Jupiter , and Saturn . Sometimes the Luminaries , the Sun and Moon, are added to the list of Naked Eye Planets to make a total of Seven . Since the planets disappear from time to time when they approach the Sun, careful attention is required to identify all five. Observations Of Venus are famously difficult. Early Greeks thought that the evening and morning appearances of Venus represented two different objects, calling it '' Hesperus '' ("evening star") when it appeared in the western evening sky and ''Phosphorus'' ("light-bringer") when it appeared in the eastern morning sky. They eventually came to recognize that both objects were the same planet; Pythagoras is given credit for this realization. The planets eventually received names drawn from Greek Mythology . The equivalent names in Roman Mythology are the basis for the modern English Names Of The Planets . CALENDARS Many ancient Calendars are based on the cycles of the Sun or Moon. The Hellenic Calendar incorporated these cycles. A Lunisolar Calendar based on both cycles is difficult. Some Greek astronomers worked out calendars based on the Eclipse Cycle . EUDOXAN ASTRONOMY In classical Greece, astronomy was a branch of Mathematics ; astronomers sought to create geometrical models that could imitate the appearances of celestial motions. This tradition began with the Pythagoreans, who placed astronomy among the four mathematical arts (along with Arithmetic , Geometry , and Music ). The study of Number comprising the four arts was later called the '' Quadrivium ''. Although he was not a creative mathematician, Plato (427-347 BCE) included the ''quadrivium'' as the basis for philosophical education in the ''Republic''. He encouraged a younger mathematician, Eudoxus Of Cnidus (c. 410 BCE-c. 347 BCE), to develop a system of Greek astronomy. According to a modern historian of science, David Lindberg: In their work we find (1) a shift from stellar to planetary concerns, (2) the creation of a geometrical model, the "two-sphere model," for the representation of stellar and planetary phenomena, and (3) the establishment of criteria governing theories designed to account for planetary observations The two-sphere model is a Geocentric Model . It divides the Cosmos into two regions:
Plato's main books on cosmology are the '' Timaeus '' and the '' Republic ''. In them he described the two-sphere model and said there were eight circles or spheres carrying the seven planets and the fixed stars. He put the celestial objects in the following order, beginning with the one closest to Earth: # Moon # Sun # Venus # Mercury # Mars # Jupiter # Saturn # Fixed stars According to the " Myth Of Er " in the ''Republic'', the cosmos is the Spindle Of Necessity , attended by Sirens and spun by the three daughters of the Goddess Necessity known collectively as the Moirae or Fates. According to a story reported by Simplicius Of Cilicia (6th century CE), Plato posed a question for the Greek mathematicians of his day: "By the assumption of what uniform and orderly motions can the apparent motions of the planets be accounted for?" (quoted in Lloyd 1970, p. 84). Plato proposed that the seemingly chaotic wandering motions of the planets could be explained by combinations of uniform circular motions centered on a spherical Earth, apparently a novel idea in the 4th century. Eudoxus rose to the challenge by assigning to each planet a set of Concentric spheres. By tilting the axes of the spheres, and by assigning each a different period of revolution, he was able to approximate the celestial "appearances." Thus, he was the first to attempt a mathematical description of the motions of the planets. A general idea of the content of ''On Speeds'', his book on the planets, can be gleaned from Aristotle 's '' Metaphysics '' XII, 8, and a commentary by Simplicius on ''De caelo'', another work by Aristotle. Since all his own works are lost, our knowledge of Eudoxus is obtained from secondary sources. Aratus 's poem on Astronomy is based on a work of Eudoxus, and possibly also Theodosius Of Bithynia's ''Sphaerics''. They give us an indication of his work in Spherical Astronomy as well as planetary motions. Callippus , a Greek astronomer of the 4th century, added seven spheres to Eudoxus' original 27 (in addition to the planetary spheres, Eudoxus included a sphere for the fixed stars). Aristotle described both systems, but insisted on adding "unrolling" spheres between each set of spheres to cancel the motions of the outer set. Aristotle was concerned about the physical nature of the system; without unrollers, the outer motions would be transferred to the inner planets. HELLENISTIC ASTRONOMY Planetary models and observational astronomy The Eudoxan system had several critical flaws. One was its inability to predict motions exactly. Callippus' work may have been an attempt to correct this flaw. A related problem is the inability of his models to explain why planets appear to change speed. A third flaw is its inability to explain changes in the brightness of planets as seen from Earth. Because the spheres are concentric, planets will always remain at the same distance from Earth. This problem was pointed out in Antiquity by Autolycus Of Pitane (c. 310 BCE). deferent and the Deferent And Epicycle . The deferent is a circle carrying the planet around the Earth. (The word ''deferent'' comes from the Latin ''ferro, ferre'', meaning "to carry.") An '''eccentric deferent''' is slightly off-center from Earth. In a '''deferent and epicycle''' model, the deferent carries a small circle, the '''epicycle''', which carries the planet. The deferent-and-epicycle model can mimic the eccentric model, as shown by '''Apollonius' theorem'''. It can also explain Retrogradation , which happens when planets appear to reverse their motion through the Zodiac for a short time. Modern historians of astronomy have determined that Eudoxus' models could only have approximated retrogradation crudely for some planets, and not at all for others. In the 2nd century BCE, Hipparchus , aware of the extraordinary accuracy with which Babylonian astronomers could predict the planets' motions, insisted that Greek astronomers achieve similar levels of accuracy. Somehow he had access to Babylonian observations or predictions, and used them to create better geometrical models. For the Sun, he used a simple eccentric model, based on observations of the Equinoxes , which explained both changes in the speed of the Sun and differences in the lengths of the Seasons . For the Moon, he used a deferent-and-epicycle model. He could not create accurate models for the remaining planets, and criticized other Greek astronomers for creating inaccurate models. Hipparchus also compiled a Star Catalogue . According to Pliny The Elder , he observed a '' Nova '' (new star). So that later generations could tell whether other stars came to be, perished, moved, or changed in brightness, he recorded the position and brightness of the stars. Ptolemy mentioned the catalogue in connetion with Hipparchus' Discovery Of Precession . ( Precession of the equinoxes is a slow motion of the place of the equinoxes through the zodiac, caused by the shifting of the Earth's axis). Hipparchus thought it was caused by the motion of the sphere of fixed stars. Cosmology and cosmic scales In the 3rd century BCE, . Aristarchus also wrote a book '' On The Sizes And Distances Of The Sun And Moon '', which is his only work to have survived. In this work, he calculated the sizes of the Sun and Moon, as well as their distances from the Earth in Earth Radii . Shortly afterwards, Eratosthenes calculated the size of the Earth, providing a value for the Earth radii which could be plugged into Aristarchus' calculations. Hipparchus wrote another book '' On The Sizes And Distances Of The Sun And Moon '', which has not survived. Both Aristarchus and Hipparchus drastically underestimated the distance of the Sun from the Earth. ASTRONOMY IN THE GRECO-ROMAN AND LATE ANTIQUE ERAS Hipparchus is considered to have been among the most important Greek astronomers, because he introduced the concept of exact prediction into astronomy. He was also the last innovative astronomer before Claudius Ptolemy , a mathematician who worked at Alexandria in Roman Egypt in the 2nd century CE. Ptolemy's works on astronomy and Astrology include the '' Almagest '', the ''Planetary Hypotheses'', and the '' Tetrabiblos '', as well as the ''Handy Tables'', the ''Canobic Inscription'', and other minor works. The ''Almagest'' is one of the most influential books in the history of western astronomy. In this book, Ptolemy explained how to predict the behavior of the planets, as Hipparchus could not, with the introduction of a new mathematical tool, the Equant . The ''Almagest'' gave a comprehensive treatment of astronomy, incorporating theorems, models, and observations from many previous mathematicians. This fact may explain its survival, in contrast to more specialized works that were neglected and lost. Ptolemy placed the planets in the order that would remain standard until it was displaced by the Heliocentric system and the Tychonic System : # Moon # Mercury # Venus # Sun # Mars # Jupiter # Saturn # Fixed stars The extent of Ptolemy's reliance on the work of other mathematicians, in particular his use of Hipparchus' star catalogue, has been debated since the 19th century. A controversial claim was made by Robert R. Newton in the 1970s. in ''The Crime of Claudius Ptolemy'', he argued that Ptolemy faked his observations and falsely claimed the catalogue of Hipparchus as his own work. Newton's theories have not been adopted by most historians of astronomy. A few mathematicians of Late Antiquity wrote commentaries on the ''Almagest'', including Pappus Of Alexandria as well as Theon Of Alexandria and his daughter Hypatia . Ptolemaic astronomy became standard in medieval western European and Islamic Astronomy until it was displaced by Heliocentric and Tychonic System s around 1600. However, recently discovered manuscripts reveal that Greek Astrologers of Antiquity continued using pre-Ptolemaic methods for their calculations (Aaboe, 2001). SOURCES FOR GREEK ASTRONOMY Many Greek astronomical texts are known only by name, and perhaps by a description or quotations. Some elementary works have survived because they were largely non-mathematical and suitable for use in schools. Books in this class include the ''Phaenomena'' of Euclid and two works by Autolycus Of Pitane . Three important textbooks, written shortly before Ptolemy's time, were written by Cleomedes , Geminus , and Theon Of Smyrna . Books by Roman authors like Pliny the Elder and Vitruvius contain some information on Greek astronomy. The most important primary source is the ''Almagest'', since Ptolemy refers to the work of many of his predecessors (Evans 1998, p. 24). FAMOUS ASTRONOMERS OF ANTIQUITY In addition to the authors named in the article, the following list of people who worked on mathematical astronomy or cosmology may be of interest.
SEE ALSO History Of Astrology REFERENCES
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