Astronomy, one of the oldest forms of science, has been practiced by multiple civilizations throughout the ages. Each aligns their finds with their own cultural beliefs or laws.
Astronomy has played an important role in the formation of many cultures of beliefs. Since the dawn of time, man has wondered about the celestial bodies in the universe, and tried to understand them using their own beliefs and ideas. Many machines and ancient artifacts were found to be used to observe the celestial bodies in these time periods, which show the interest of man in understanding the ever-expanding universe.
One of the earliest found civilizations to try and understand celestial bodies were the Ancient Greeks.
Astronomy in Ancient Greece:
Ancient Greek Astronomy was the study of the universe to understand how it functioned and why apart from the established theistic model that claimed all things were ordered and maintained by the gods. They believed that all celestial bodies were held up by different Gods and deities. An example is the Ancient Greek belief that the sky was a dome, held up by the Titan Atlas as punishment for his deeds. Ancient Greek astronomers relied on observation and mathematical calculation to determine the operation of the universe and Earth’s place within it.
Astronomical models and beliefs:
Many other early observers believed the heavens were really a giant crystalline bowl arching over Earth. That view gave way to another idea, expounded by astronomer Eudoxus and philosopher Aristotle in the 4th century BCE. They said the Sun, Moon, and planets hung on a set of nesting, concentric spheres surrounding Earth. Nobody could see them, but something was holding up the celestial objects, and invisible nesting balls were as good an explanation as anything else.
These models of astronomy were widely accepted at the time as many Greek philosophers and astronomers tried to find every celestial body in the universe as their idea of the known universe and celestial bodies was limited to the nearest stars, constellations and galaxies.
These models continued to be followed throughout the passage of time until disproved later by other astronomers, many hundreds of centuries later.
Modern Day Constellations:
The Greeks did manage to find and map out multiple stars and constellations in the universe, due to which numerous current day constellations are still named after characters from Greek myths. Forty-eight of the constellations are known as ancient or original, meaning they were found by the Greeks or earlier civilizations, such as Orion, Aquarius, Cassiopeia, etc. After the 14th century, with the age of the great discoveries and worldwide navigation, the southernmost parts of the sky became known to man and had to be charted. One major post-14th century change in the working of modern day astronomy was the theory of ‘heliocentrism’, reinvented by the philosopher Copernicus sometime in the 15th century.
Our current understanding of the universe is a result of all the ancient studies, theories, and beliefs that cleared the path for man to interpret the cosmos more clearly.
References
- Mark, Joshua J. “Greek Astronomy.” World History Encyclopedia, 14 Feb. 2022, www.worldhistory.org/Greek_Astronomy/
- https://www.facebook.com/thoughtcodotcom. “The Story of Astronomy from the Ancient Stargazers to the Renaissance.” ThoughtCo, 2019, www.thoughtco.com/history-of-astronomy-3071081
- “Astronomy Picture of the Day.” Nasa.gov, 2024, apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
- Rao, Joe. “How the Night Sky Constellations Got Their Names.” Space.com, Space, May 2012, www.space.com/15486-night-sky-constellations-names.html
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