According to Asgar Aaboe, Western astronomy can be found in Mesopotamia and all efforts on this branch of science are direct descent of and are contemporary to the works of Babylonian astronomers. The knowledge we have concerning Sumerian astronomy is via Babylonian star catalogues dating circa 1200 BCE. Astronomy began with Sumerians. They made use of sexagesimal number system. The modern practice of dividing a circle into 360 degrees of 60 minutes each hour, began with the Sumerians. The system was adopted by Greeks, Romans and Arabs. Classical Greek and Latin sources often cite the Chaldeans as Mesopotamian astronomers who were actually priest-scribes versed in astrology and divination.

Planetary movements seemed to influence weather and this might have actually given rise to belief in planetary gods. When Sirius moved closer to the Milky Way, it seemed to cause an overflow of the Nile, thus Egyptians revered Sirius as a Nile god.

Current knowledge of ancient astronomy is in fragmentary state.

Nevertheless, surviving fragments give insights on ancient astronomy and its contribution to modern astronomy.

It is quite surprising that Sumerians had explicit knowledge of astro-stellar phenomena and its mathematical description. The zodiac probably originated with them.

The Sumerians also had knowledge of a planet beyond Pluto and also the mathematical knowledge of its circuitous movement. They observed that astro-stellar phenomena were periodic and so, applied mathematics in their predictions.
Their observations are recorded in texts such as Enuma Anu Enlil and the Venus tablets of Ammisaduqa which lists the first and last visible risings of Venus over a period of 21 years.

The MUL.APIN contains star catalogues and schemes for predicting heliacal risings and planetary settings and length of daylight was measured by a water clock, gnomon, shadows and intercalculations. The Babylonians and their predecessors, the Sumerians never proposed the idea of geocentrism. Their view was that the solar system and the earth were moving at ambage. They also claimed to have known of an extra "wandering planet" beyond Pluto and that it had effects on the orbits of Jupiter, Neptune and Uranus.

Cc johnydon22 SirWere HCpaul frank317 Weah96

wonderful thread you've got here lordnicklaus i will be back to tender my own submissions

Excellent thread brother - Astronomy began with the ancients surely but as the mystic art of astrology.

To the ancients everything had a religious significance, they mostly studied Art and science for religious purposes, mysticism and superstition.

The sumerians were a beacon of huma civilization, they also gave us the 'wheel' and 24hours day measurement and accurately measured the orbit of jupiter.

But there was a problem with ancient natural philosophy [science] - they could not draw a fine line between belief and knowledge but buttered and explained observed knowledge with superstition and roped their practise of mysticism into it.

they hid the knowledge from the people, it was treated as a sacred knowledge only to be known by the elite - the priestly class.

so these knowledges had little or no effect on the populace, only helped few and even gave them a conning edge over the simple folks - i think the dibias (native doctors) of ancient igbo society are the scientists of those days in igbo land though even till these day they treat their knowledge as sacred and secret which still makes some regard the art of dibia as a supernatural feat.

Science should be open to all, science should be accomodating and there is no sacred knowledge only to be known by a few, if it can be known by 1 then it can be known by all.

that is where our modern science got it right, we seperated superstition from science and drew a fine- line between beliefs and empirical facts.

we still owe them for the advancement of our sciences even in the err of their of primitive practises.

johnydon22:
Excellent thread brother - Astronomy began with the ancients surely but as the mystic art of astrology.

To the ancients everything had a religious significance, they mostly studied Art and science for religious purposes, mysticism and superstition.

The sumerians were a beacon of huma civilization, they also gave us the 'wheel' and 24hours day measurement and accurately measured the orbit of jupiter.

But there was a problem with ancient natural philosophy [science] - they could not draw a fine line between belief and knowledge but buttered and explained observed knowledge with superstition and roped their practise of mysticism into it.

they hid the knowledge from the people, it was treated as a sacred knowledge only to be known by the elite - the priestly class.

so these knowledges had little or no effect on the populace, only helped few and even gave them a conning edge over the simple folks - i think the dibias (native doctors) of ancient igbo society are the scientists of those days in igbo land though even till these day they treat their knowledge as sacred and secret which still makes some regard the art of dibia as a supernatural feat.

Science should be open to all, science should be accomodating and there is no sacred knowledge only to be known by a few, if it can be known by 1 then it can be known by all.

that is where our modern science got it right, we seperated superstition from science and drew a fine- line between beliefs and empirical facts.

we still owe them for the advancement of our sciences even in the err of their of primitive practises.

Well, I think they created religion to complement science. Religion was actually meant to be a support to science due to the fact some questions were unanswerable by science but as things began to become clear, some religious theories were debunked. But could Sumerian record hold the key to the knowledge we need concerning exo-life?

Ancient astronomy laid the foundation for the development of the entire science of space. Remember what the astronomy of ancient Greece gave us. This is a multitude of discoveries, great minds, the formation of the very direction of studying the universe. We can say that ancient Greek astronomy is the initial astronomy. In other words, the basics of science. Although ancient, and not always true. But they are important and necessary for the formation of a modern concept of the universe.