Heaven and earth in ancient greek cosmology : from Thales to Heraclides Ponticus

285 Pages·2011·5.54 MB·English

by  Couprie

Heaven and Earth in Ancient Greek Cosmology
Astrophysics and Space Science Library
EDITORIALBOARD
Chairman
W.B.BURTON,NationalRadioAstronomyObservatory,Charlottesville,Virginia,
U.S.A.([email protected]);UniversityofLeiden,TheNetherlands
([email protected])
F.BERTOLA,UniversityofPadua,Italy
J.P.CASSINELLI,UniversityofWisconsin,Madison,U.S.A.
C.J.CESARSKY,CommissionforAtomicEnergy,Saclay,France
P.EHRENFREUND,LeidenUniversity,TheNetherlands
O.ENGVOLD,UniversityofOslo,Norway
A.HECK,StrasbourgAstronomicalObservatory,France
E.P.J.VANDENHEUVEL,UniversityofAmsterdam,TheNetherlands
V.M.KASPI,McGillUniversity,Montreal,Canada
J.M.E.KUIJPERS,UniversityofNijmegen,TheNetherlands
H.VANDERLAAN,UniversityofUtrecht,TheNetherlands
P.G.MURDIN,InstituteofAstronomy,Cambridge,UK
F.PACINI,IstitutoAstronomiaArcetri,Firenze,Italy
V.RADHAKRISHNAN,RamanResearchInstitute,Bangalore,India
B.V.SOMOV,AstronomicalInstitute,MoscowStateUniversity,Russia
R.A.SUNYAEV,SpaceResearchInstitute,Moscow,Russia
Dirk L. Couprie
Heaven and Earth in Ancient
Greek Cosmology
From Thales to Heraclides Ponticus
DirkL.Couprie
St.Maartenslaan51d
6221AWMaastricht
Netherlands
ISBN978-1-4419-8115-8 e-ISBN978-1-4419-8116-5
DOI10.1007/978-1-4419-8116-5
SpringerNewYorkDordrechtHeidelbergLondon
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2011923655
#SpringerScience+BusinessMedia,LLC2011
Allrightsreserved.Thisworkmaynotbetranslatedorcopiedinwholeorinpartwithoutthewritten
permissionof the publisher (SpringerScience+Business Media, LLC, 233 SpringStreet, New York,
NY10013,USA),exceptforbriefexcerptsinconnectionwithreviewsorscholarlyanalysis.Usein
connectionwithanyformofinformationstorageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,
orbysimilarordissimilarmethodologynowknownorhereafterdevelopedisforbidden.
Theuseinthispublicationoftradenames,trademarks,servicemarks,andsimilarterms,evenifthey
arenotidentifiedassuch,isnottobetakenasanexpressionofopinionastowhetherornottheyare
subjecttoproprietaryrights.
Printedonacid-freepaper
SpringerispartofSpringerScience+BusinessMedia(www.springer.com)
Dedicated to the memory of my father
Leendert Couprie
September 20, 1896 – September 16, 1983
who showed me the panorama of the
celestial vault
MOTHER
THERE’S SOMETHING
WRONG WITH THE SKY
RADIANT THE OCEAN SKY
SERENITY AND BLIGHT
graffiti by
somewhere in Amsterdam

Contents
ListofFigures .................................................................. ix
ListofTables................................................................... xv
ForewordbyDmitriPanchenko............................................. xvii
PrefaceandAcknowledgements............................................. xix
Introduction................................................................... xxi
PartI ArchaicAstronomyandtheWorld-PictureofaFlatEarth
1 TheArchaicWorldPicture............................................. 3
2 ArchaicAstronomicalInstruments .................................... 15
3 HowThalesWasAbletoPredicttheSolarEclipse
of28May585B.C....................................................... 51
4 TheShapeoftheEarthAccordingtoThales ......................... 63
5 TheRiddleoftheCelestialAxis........................................ 69
6 TheFirstMapoftheEarth............................................. 79
PartII AnaximanderandtheDiscoveryofSpace
7 Anaximander:ASurveyofHisIdeas.................................. 89
8 TheDiscoveryofSpace:Anaximander’sCosmology................. 99
TheCelestialBodiesMakeFullCirclesAroundtheEarth ............. 100
vii
viii Contents
TheEarthFloatsFreeinSpace.......................................... 104
TheCelestialBodiesLieBehindOneAnother.......................... 114
9 Anaximander’sNumbers:TheDimensionsoftheUniverse......... 121
10 TheVisualizationofAnaximander’sWorldPicture ................. 137
11 BellowsorLightning?ACuriousTerminologyExplained .......... 145
12 CritiqueofanAllegedCosmicArchitecture.......................... 153
PartIII TheCompletionoftheNewWorld-Picture
andtheDebateontheShapeoftheEarth
13 ASurveyfromAnaximandertoAristarchus ......................... 163
14 WithFearforHisOwnLife:AnaxagorasasaCosmologist......... 175
15 TheSunattheHorizon,Anaxagoras’Proof
oftheFlatnessoftheEarth............................................. 181
16 TheSunIsasBigasthePeloponnesus................................. 189
17 TheDodecahedron,ortheShapeoftheEarth
AccordingtoPlato....................................................... 201
18 FearofFalling:AristotleontheShapeoftheEarth................. 213
19 HeraclidesPonticusandtheInfiniteUniverse........................ 221
Bibliography.................................................................. 231
NameIndex ................................................................... 247
IndexofClassicalAuthors................................................... 255
List of Figures
Fig.0.1 Artist’simpressionofAnaximanderteaching
hiscosmologicalconceptions..................................... xxv
Fig.1.1 Thearchaicworldpictureofaflatearthwith
thecelestialvault................................................. 4
Fig.1.2 GodtheFatheronachurchwindowinPerugia................. 4
Fig.1.3 TheEgyptianhieroglyphfor“heaven”.......................... 5
Fig.1.4 Thehieroglyphfor“heaven”paintedinthetomb
ofNefertari....................................................... 5
Fig.1.5 CurvedcelestialvaultonthesteleofTanetperet................ 6
Fig.1.6 CurvedceilingoftheburialchamberofRamessesVI
withastronomicalpainting....................................... 7
Fig.1.7 ArchingNutonthebacksideofthesteleofTanetperet......... 8
Fig.1.8 NutastheMilkyWay ........................................... 8
Fig.1.9 Shu,standingupontheearthgodGeb,supportsNut,
thegoddessoftheheaven........................................ 9
Fig.1.10 Therainbowsupportsthecelestialvault ........................ 10
Fig.1.11 ThemantleoftheheavenonanAssyriansealcylinder......... 10
Fig.1.12 AtlasandPrometheusonaGreekbowl......................... 12
Fig.2.1 Starscirclingaroundthecelestialaxisonarecent
timeexposure .................................................... 16
Fig.2.2 Thedailyorbitofthesuninthedifferentseasons .............. 16
Fig.2.3 Severalmannersofmeasuringdistancesatthefirmament
onanengravingfrom1533A.D................................. 20
Fig.2.4 Somemoreexamplesofmeasuringanglesbetweenstars....... 20
Fig.2.5 PartofthestarclockinthetombofRamessesIX.............. 21
Fig.2.6 Findingnorthwiththehelpofanartificialhorizon............. 23
Fig.2.7 Thepersonificationofastronomywithasightingtube.
Drawing(ca.1880A.D.)aftermedievalmanuscript
(1241A.D.) ...................................................... 24
Fig.2.8 Theangulardiameterofthesun................................. 25
ix