Science Awakening II: The Birth of Astronomy

361 Pages·1974·23.563 MB·English

by  Bartel L. van der Waerden (auth.)

Modern Star Map. Publisher: Astronomy Charted Worcester (Mass.).
SCIENCE AWAKENING II
SCIENCE AWAKENING
II
THE BIRTH OF ASTRONOMY
by
Bartel L. van der Waerden
with contributions by
Peter Huber
SPRINGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V.
© 1974 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
Origina11y published by Noordhoff International Publishing in 1974
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,photocopying,
recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the copyright owner.
ISBN 978-90-481-8247-3 ISBN 978-94-017-2952-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-2952-9
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number A54-7774
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
lNTRODUCTION. The role of astronomy in the history of
civilization . . 1-7
The purpose of astronomy 1
The divinity of the stars . 2
ASTRONOMICAL INTRODUCTJON • . . 3
The stellar sphere, poles and equator 3
The zodiac ........... . 4
The moon ........... . 5
The phases of the fixed stars and planets . 6
The planets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Historical and astronomical reckoning of years 7
CHAPTER 1. Astronomy in ancient Egypt 8-45
HISTORICAL PERIODS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
THE RISING OF SIRJUS AND THE EGYPTIAN CALENDAR 8
Sirius as berald of the new year . . . . . 8
The Egyptian year. . . . . . . . . . . 9
Was there a scientific astronomy in the Egyptian Old Kingdom? 10
The Sothis period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
The phases of stars in Hesiodos• poem . . . . . . . . 11
The significance of the phases of the stars for agriculture . 13
THE EGYPTIAN DECANS . . . . . . . . . . . 13
The diagonal calendars . . . . . . 14.
The position of the decans in the sky 17
The rising of the decans in the night . 19
The headings of the columns . . . . 26
Later development of the decan theory 26
Historical consequences . . . . . . 28
Other astronomical tomb-inscriptions 28
The decans in astrology 29
THE LATE EGYPTIAN PERIOD 32
Astrology . . . . . . 32
VIII T ABLE OF CONTENTS
Astronomy ..... 37
Calculation of periods . 37
Eudoxos' Egyptian journey . 39
Geometry ....... . 41
The significance of geometry for astronomy. 42
New trends in religion . . . . . . . . . . 43
CHAPTER 2. Old-Babylonian astronomy .... 46-59
HAMMURABI AND HIS DYNASTY . . . . . 46
The beginning of astrology . . 48
The series 'Enuma Anu Enlil' . 49
THE VENUS TABLETS OF AMMIZADUGA . . 50
The phases of Venus. . . . . 51
The 'Year of the golden throne' . 52
The time intervals . . . . . 52
Errors in the text . . . . . . . 52
The chronological problern . . . 53
Schematic calculation of the phases of Venus . 55
The identity of the morning and evening star 56
Astral religion . . . . . . 57
Astral religion and astrology . . . . . . . 59
CHAPTER 3. The Assyrian period ....... . 60-92
TIME TABLE ..... . 60
General survey 61
THE EARLIER TEXTS . . . 62
Hilprecht's text HS 229 62
'The three stars each' . 64
The stars of Elam, Akkad and Amurru 67
The numbers on Pinches' astrolabe 69
Which stars were meant? . 69
THE SERIES mul APIN . . . . . . . 70
The star catalogue 71
The three paths in the sky 74
The 36 morning risings . 74
Further sections of the text mu1APIN 77
Ziqpu stars . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
The constellations in the path of the moon . 79
The four astronomical seasons 80
Gnomon Tables. . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
T ABLE OF CONTENTS IX
DURATION OF THE NIGHT AND VISIBILITY OF THE MOON . 84
The British museum ivory prism . . 86
Popular and astronomical time units 88
The reports of the astrologers 89
SUMMARY 91
CHAPTER 4. The neo-Babylonian and Persian period . 93-126
General review . . . . . . 93
Chronology . . . . . . . 94
Chaldaean kings of Babyion 94
Persian kings . . . . . . . 94
The characteristics of the astronomy of this period 95
OBSERVATIONAL TEXTS ....... . 95
Observations and predictions . 95
Astronomical diades 96
The earliest preserved diary. . 96
The 'Lunar six' . . . . . . . 98
The course of the moon in the zodiac 98
Collections of ancient eclipse and planetary observations . 99
The text Strassmaier Kambyses 400 100
The text CBS 11 901. 101
CALCULATION OF PERIODS . . . 102
The 'Saros' . . . . . 102
Intercalation periods. 103
The relation year: month. 104
Planetary periods 107
Goal-year texts . 108
Long periods . . 110
The 'great year' . 112
PREDICTION OF ECLIPSES 115
The premature eclipse Thompson 271 116
Eclipse that failed . . . . . . . . 117
The solareclipsein October, -424 117
Methods of prediction . 117
The eclipse of Thales . . . 120
THE ZODIAC ....•...... 122
The boundaries of the signs 125
Mathematical astronomy . . 126
X T ABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 5. Cosmic religion, astrology and astronomy . 127-204
SUMMARY OF THIS CHAPTER . . . . . . . . . • . . 127
Connections between religion and astrology 128
TRADITION AND NEW RELIGIOUS CURRENTS . 128
The polytheism of earlier times 129
New religious currents .. 129
THE RELIGION OF ZARATHUSTRA • • 133
The Gathas of the Avesta 133
The ethics of Zarathustra 134
The judgement by fire at the end of time . 135
THE SKY -GOD . • • • . . • • . . . . • 137
Ahura Mazda as the highest god . 138
Syncretism and monotheism . . . 139
Monotheistic tendencies in Greece 140
The cosmos as living being . . . . 141
IMMORTALITY AND TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS 142
The immortality of the soul in the A vesta 142
Greek ideas about the soul . . . . 144
Heaven as the Horne of Souls. . . 146
THE CULT OF MITHRAS AND SOLAR THEOLOGY . 150
Mithras as Sun-god . . . . . 150
The spread of the Mithras cult 155
The three worlds of Julianusr . 156
The sun as highest god. 160
ZERVANISM AND ASTRAL FATALISM 161
The time-god Zervan . 162
The myth of the twins . 163
The male-female god . 165
Chronos Apeiros . . . 168
The god with the lion-head . 168
The theogony of ÜRPHEUS . 169
The dating of Zervanism . . 170
STAGES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF COSMIC RELIGION AND ASTROLOGY 172
The development of cosmic religion 175
Three stages of astrology . . . . . . . . 176
Sirius and the harvest . . . . . . . . . 178
The dating of primitive zodiacal astrology 180
Horoscopy ........... . 181
Horoscopes for conception and birth. . . 182
T ABLE OF CONTENTS XI
THE DEVELOPMENT OF ASTRONOMY IN THE SIXTH CENTURY 183
Summary of previous results . . . . . . . 183
Relations between astrology and astronomy . 183
Observational texts from the 6th Century. . . 184
The art of soothsaying at the court of the Chaldaean kings . 185
DIVINE NAMES OF PLANETS . . . . . . . . . 186
Greek and Latin names of planets . 186
Babylonian names of planets 187
Persian names of planets . 188
The sun . 189
The moon 189
Mars . 189
Jupiter 191
Venus . 192
Mercury and Sirius 193
Saturn ..... . 194
Two systems of gods 196
THE INSCRIPTIONS OF THE ACHAEMENIDS 197
Decrees and inscriptions of Cyrus . 197
Kambyses and Darius . . . 199
Inscriptions of Xerxes . . . 201
Inscriptions of Artaxerxes II 201
Darius and the Magi . . . 202
CHAPTER 6. Theory of the moon . . . . . . . . . 205-249
The systems A and B . . 208
SYSTEM A .•......... 210
Meaning of the columns . 210
Calculation of Column c[J 211
Calculation of Column B 212
Calculation of Column C 214
Calculation of Column E 216
Column P: Magnitudes of eclipses 221
Calculation of Column F. 221
Calculation of Column G 222
Calculation of Column J . 223
Table for G ..... . 224
Calculation of Columns K, L and M 225
Column cfJ and the Saros . . . . . 226
The basic assumptions of System A . 229