The Astronomical Accomplishments of the Greek Culture - Essay Example

The Astronomical Accomplishments of the Greek Culture Introduction Astronomy is often considered to be a significant branch of the observational and empirical science, though in the context of modern science it tends to include the pure theoretical approaches to a great extent. But in the ancient world astronomy often includes a lot of the cultural and religious trends. In other words the religious trends in any cultures are often determined by various features of astronomical phenomenon. Throughout the passage of time, these astronomical features in any cultures being tested by the greatest thinkers and intellectual are established as the tested fields of astronomical science (Waerden 109). Therefore cultures have their contributions to various fields of this science as the legacies of their involvements with the astronomy. The influence of any culture on the astronomical knowledge of its people is embedded within the fact that the culture itself includes and at the same time depends on astronomy taking it as an integral part of its spirituality. As the definition of cultural astronomy, Nicholas Champion says, “Astronomy is more than the science of the stars. It is intimately connected to our ideas of ourselves, our purpose and place in the universe. Currently it is fuelling myths, beliefs and ideologies as much as at any time in its history.” (1) Astronomical Aspects in Various Cultures Due to having different geographical features the astronomical accomplishments differ from culture to culture. For example, the Egyptian culture puts priority on the astronomical knowledge for their agricultural systems and for their daily needs, as W. A. Glover says, “The Egyptians were more agriculturally oriented than the Babylonians in their Astronomy.” (Glover 2). But for the Babylonians astronomy was an indispensable of their religion. They considered the planets to be gods and they believed that the movement of this solar and cosmological entities can foretell the future (Jones 38). In this regard Glover says, “Religion was an important aspect of astronomy for the Babylonians. They believed that the motion of the heavens could predict the future……of each planet as a god…..” (Glover). As to the astronomy the Greek are haunted by curiosity and thirst to know the unknown. It does not necessarily mean the Greek culture is not concerned with astronomy in terms of religion, rather the “Greeks the religious aspects of astronomy were much less important than for other cultures” (Glover). Astronomical Accomplishments in Greek Cultures The Greek culture has a long and enriched astronomical tradition. A close analysis of Greek astronomical culture reveals the fact that Astronomy in Greek culture is at the best dominated by reasons and mathematical postulates. Justification of the astronomical phenomenon through logic and theories, for the first time, received a new trend by the ancient Greek philosophers that provide the firm ground for the theoretical approach of modern astronomy. Though many of the ancient astronomical assumptions are falsified by modern scholars, both of the Hellenistic and the pre-Hellenistic astronomical personalities significantly contributed to the development of this science. The ancient Greek astronomy is primarily dominated by three prominent figures: Hipparchus, Ptolemy and Aristotle. One of the powerful contributions of the Greek astronomy is the mathematical orientation that was initiated by the Greek philosopher and mathematicians Hipparchus and the art of employing mathematical knowledge in propounding the astronomical postulates (Jones 68). Also this science was blessed with the objectivity of investigation by Aristotle. Hipparchus’s contribution to astronomy lies in the fact that he innovates and employs the geometric knowledge to calculate the space-time matrix of the solar system. In his book, “On Sizes and Distances” that is now lost, “Hipparchus reportedly measured the Moon’s orbit in relation to the size of the Earth. He had two methods of doing this. One method used an observation of a solar eclipse that had been total near the Hellespont but only partial at Alexandria” (Encyclopedia Britannica) As to the contribution of Hipparchus, Berry says, “An immense advance in astronomy was made by Hipparchus who must stand side by side with the greatest astronomers of all time” (23). The accomplishments of Hipparchus are as following: a. Mathematical model of Solar System b. Calculation of the positions of the Sun and the Moon c. Earth’s Precession d. Preparation of Star Map e. Prediction of eclipses Figure: Hipparchus’s Geocentric Model Source: http://staff.jccc.edu Figure: Hipparchus’s Explanation of Retrograde Motion Source: http://staff.jccc.edu Basing on Hipparchus’s ideas and mathematical Ptolemy further developed and innovated newer features of the astronomical science. Though Ptolemy primarily manipulated Hipparchus’s ideas and model, his uniqueness is that he handled them in a convoluted way to prepare a geocentric model of the solar system and to measure the motion of the planetary bodies more accurately (Waerden 102). He synthesizes and developed Hipparchus’s epicycles and provided an estimation of the distances between the planetary bodies. When describing the Ptolemaic solar system, Glover says, “It predicts the positions of the planets accurately…. in the book Mathematical Syntaxis… a thirteen book mathematical treatment of the phenomena of astronomy” (2). Ptolemy’s philosophy dominated the branch of Astronomical science till Copernicus’s discovery of a heliocentric solar system: Figure: Copernicus’s Heliocentric Model Source: http://staff.jccc.edu Indeed Ptolemy’s geocentric solar system is accurate enough for naked eye. His contributions are as following: a. Development of Hipparchus Eclipses b. Defining the motions and distances of the planets c. Using more accurate astronomical data Figure: More Calculated Center of the Geocentric Solar system Source: http://staff.jccc.edu Figure: Another Extension of the Geocentric Model of the Solar System Source: http://staff.jccc.edu The astronomical accomplishment of Aristotle is to formalize the geocentric model of the universe. Though flawed and reined almost for twelve centuries till the discovery of Copernicus, Aristotle’s formalization of the model of the universe in a logical way, Aristotle first induces the systematic astronomical science. But the Aristotelian view of the universe was put to an end by the famous astronomers, Galileo, Copernicus and Kepler. Besides these prominent Greek astronomers there were some other philosophers such as Pythagoras, Socrates, Empedocles and Anaxagoras etc who significantly contributed to the development of the Greek Astronomy. Indeed these personalities are considered as the prominent figures in the fields of mathematics and philosophy. But as in Ancient Greek astronomy was considered as a part of mathematics, these pre-Hellenistic philosophers also contributed various features of astronomy (Goldstein & Bowen 97). These philosophers attempted to provide various models of the universe. But as their propositions were purely observational and often dominated by the religious thoughts, they were grossly flawed. For example, Empedocles and Anaxagoras’ model of the universe –though the concept of the universe was not fully flourished at that age- advocates a reconciliatory double sphere of the day-night system, as it follows: Source: http://www.crystalinks.com/greekastronomy.html But the Pythagorean model of the universe that is called “the Hearth of the Universe” is the first non-geocentric universe. But it also is not flawed as it lack pure observational data and dominated by religious ideas and spiritualism. As it is said in the article “Greek Astronomy”, the Pythagoreans “placed the divine, poetically called the "Hearth of the Universe" or "Throne of Zeus", at the center of a finite, spherical universe. The sun is a glass sphere which catches and reflects this hearth-light” (Astronomy). Figure: Pythagoreans’ “the Hearth of the Universe” Source: http://www.crystalinks.com/greekastronomy.html Conclusion Indeed the Greek astronomers greatly contributed to the development of the astronomical science, though some of the flawed assumptions can be excused on the point that such attempts induced their successors to be involved with this science. Again it is true that some of their astronomical accomplishments are evaluated as unique by the modern scholars and intellectuals. Works Cited “Astronomy”, 20 Oct. 2009 < http://www.crystalinks.com/greekastronomy.html> B L van der Waerden, “The motion of Venus, Mercury and the Sun in early Greek astronomy”, Arch. Hist. Exact Sci. 26 (2) (1982), p. 99-113 Berry, A. A short history of astronomy. New York: Penguin. 1961 p. 23 Champion, Nicholas. “Introduction: Cultural Astronomy”, Astrology and the Academy, 1997, 20 Oct. 2009 Glover, W. A. “Cultural Astronomy Curriculum Unit in the Highland High School Physics Curriculum”, 20 Oct. 2009 Goldstein, B. G. and Bowen, A. Cullen. “The introduction of dated observations and precise measurement in Greek astronomy”, Arch. Hist. Exact Sci. 43 (2) (1991), p. 93-132. "Hipparchus." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 20 Oct. 2009 “History and Philosophy of Western Astronomy”, 20 Oct. 2009 < http://staff.jccc.edu/wkoch/Astronomy/Astronomy%20Notes/2009%20Notes/chapter%2003%202009%20Rev.pdf> Jones, Anthony. “The adaptation of Babylonian methods in Greek numerical astronomy”, Isis. 82 (313) (1991), p. 441-453. Read More