Ancient Greek Astronomy
Since the first Egyptian farmers discovered the annual reappearance of Sirius just before dawn a few days before the yearly rising of the Nile, ancient civilizations around the Mediterranean have sought to explain the movements of the heavens as a sort of calendar to help guide them conduct earthly activities. Counting phases of the moon or observing the annual variations of day length could, after many years' collection of observations, serve as vital indicators for planting and harvesting times, safe or stormy season for sailing, or time to bring the flocks from winter to summer pastures. With our millennia of such observation behind us, we sometimes forget that seeing and recording anything less obvious than
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There are hints of the Greek conception of the universe in Homer, who mentions many subjects on his two epics describing war and the perils of trying to come home after long absence. For Homer, heaven is a solid inverted bowl straddling the earth, with fiery, gleaming "aither" above the cloud-bearing air. Homer mentions the movements of sun, moon, and many stars by name. The fact that Hades is on the underside of earth has an important impact on conceptions of heaven: it is unlit by the sun, therefore, the sun--and by extension, other heavenly bodies-- must sink only to the level of Ocean, which is conceived as a river circling earth's edge. From it the Sun must also rise--though how it gets back to the eastern bank of Ocean is never explained. These popular conceptions of sky are more fully explained in Hesiod, whose works on gods, on agriculture, and animal-herding are more closely connected to the practical application of astronomy. He clocks spring, summer, and harvest by solstices and the rising and setting of certain stars, and notices that the sun migrates southwards in winter
As the Greeks began to travel and explore, their ideas of the order of the universe began to change. Many Greeks settled on the coast of Turkey in the early migrations of the eleventh century BCE, and there enjoyed rich cultural mingling with their neighbors the Lydians and Persians, latest descendents of Mesopotamian civilization. They kept in
mind was no longer just between men and women; it was now the working and the
What are the purposes of each of the Gods in Greek and Roman mythology? Zeus and Jupiter are mythological Gods in Greek and Roman mythology. They are believed to be the same Gods in two different religions. It seems to be that Zeus and Jupiter are the most influential Gods of each. Is Jupiter only the Roman equivalent to the Greek God Zeus or is there any difference between the two? There seem to be plenty of similarities as well as some differences between the two of these Gods.
The Ancient Greeks have done so much for the western civilizations. Their success in art, philosophy, architecture, science, government, and history have influenced the western civilizations to use their ideas. Many different people came up with different ideas to contribute to their government. New ideas and conclusions were constantly being made because of philosophers asking questions all the time. They really helped shaped Ancient Greece's government.
The ancient Greeks have influenced the way nations run their people, the way people view knowledge and their lives, and the way people feel about their home and native country. All of these contributions that the ancient Greeks made are still prevalent not just in American culture, but in society as a whole. The ancient Greeks made several contributions to Western civilization such as the idea of democracy, philosophy, and value of patriotism and national pride. The idea of having a democratic government, which comes from the ancient Greeks, has influenced several nations around the world to govern their people with some form of democracy.
Since the beginning of time the people of the world have their share of beliefs. Greek mythology is the arguably the most popular region of study. In Ancient Greece every citizen had a patron that would protect them and pantheism was commonplace. The Romans admired the Greeks in their art and culture and even took different aspects of their gods. Polytheism was widely accepted in all cultures so the seed of mythology bloomed. The time line of the creations of gods to the end of their reign is an important factor in Greek Mythology.
Ancient Greece has been a religion- centered culture since the earliest period of habitation in Greece, the Pre-Mycenaean/Mycenaean period. Also through to the Dark Ages to the Classical period. It is a religiously centered civilization, and did have significant changes in the how it was incorporated into people’s daily lives. Religion is important to know about the Ancient Greeks because through it we are able to understand how they lived their lives.
1. During the Mycenaean civilization, who was the great poet and what were his two important literary works that influenced the Greeks and formed part of Western literature? Homer, The Iliad, The Odyssey
For many years astronomers and people alike have constantly heard about the observations and records of the Chinese and Europeans. No other culture can provide as much information as that gathered by the Chinese and Europeans, but there are many other cultures that observed and recorded the night sky, one of those being the Native Americans. During the last fifteen to twenty years archaeoastronomers have uncovered much concerning the beliefs and records of Native Americans. Unfortunately, the methods of keeping records of astronomical events were not as straight forward as the Chinese and Europeans. The Native Americans had to use what they could to record what they observed. Their records were found on rock
People from all over the world immigrate to places like Canada, not for a change of scenery but for the opportunity of a better life. Cosmo Panetta did just that in 1958, leaving his homeland of Greece. Since his move to Canada, Panetta has opened two successful businesses, a variety store and a drive-in/take-out restaurant. Panetta now has several business opportunities to take a popular menu item, the Cosmobob, to the mass-market. Panetta has some important decisions to make on the future of his family business. His options are to grow his company by opening a third drive-in/take-out restaurant, manufacture and market the Cosmobob to the food service industry, manufacture and market the
He explained how the Apache can look at the constellations and planets and determine what time it is, even though as the seasons change, so do the times. This was difficult for the author to understand or learn even though she spent a great deal of time at the reservation over many years. She says, 'to be a competent star watcher at Mescalero requires years of watching until the sky becomes as familiar as the back of one's own hand' (99).
1. The earth’s sun is a star, it generates heat and light through nuclear fusion.
Its name means “the twins” in Latin. Gemini is one of the zodiac constellations, first cataloged by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the 2nd century.The constellation represents the twins Castor and Pollux (Poly deuces), also known as the Dioscuri in ancient times, in Greek mythology.
Shortly, economic, political, and social cooperation between the Greeks and those around them became compulsory and similar. As shown in the Greek Colonization Map (chapter3) the procedure of Greek settlement became stronger on the coasts of Anatolia lastingly changing the cultural geography of the Mediterranean world and the swap of cultures from the Greek to others and vice versa, as a fast result of trade. The western shores of Anatolia held the Greek culture strongly for the following thousands of years. A large amount of Greeks settled in southern parts of Italy which the Romans called Magna Graecia “Greater Greece.” The hunt for bazaars, possessions, and trade paths indorsed more understanding between cultures. Trade involving long distance was significant for a new arising economy but also the pipeline for concepts, and technical growth. Egyptians admired Greek’s pottery and wool while, the Greek’s revered the Egyptians Canaanite glass, and amulets. As seen in Egypt And Its Neighbors Map (Chapter 2) this led to a greater mutual
Ancient Greece forged many of the contributions seen in western civilizations. One of the most influential contributions is literature. Those contributions where very important then and still are today.
ordinary folk continue to show interest in it.1 It will be argued that Franz Cumont is