EARLY GREEK ASTRONOMY
Assuming all recent mankind progress in technology and modern astronomical achievements, like expeditions to the Mars (which can prove the existence of extraterrestrial life) and theory of cosmic strings (which can prove the idea of time traveling) we should look back at history of Astronomy, to realize main ideas and analyze development of different astronomic theories.
Modern Astronomy is not the fruit of the efforts of a single genius. It is a result of hard work by many successful scientists.Historically, Ancient people were found of everything. Ancient Greece was the cradle of science. Greek scientists were the best in the Ancient world and they gained tremendous progress in science: Pythagoras and Euclid were leading mathematicians; Thales and Euclid were leading astronomers, Anaximander, Aristotle and Theophrastus were main nature scientists, Hecataeus of Miletus, Eratosthenes and Hipparchus were leading geographers. But specifically in this paper we will discuss the history and main principles of Ancient Greek Astronomy.
Nowadays, it is known that the astronomical theory of the Greeks does not work. Nevertheless, they were the first scientist who tried to show how mathematics interprets the world of sensual perception. Copernicus and Kepler revolution in astronomy was unique, but both of them properly analyzed ancient Greek scientific works and avoided Greeks mistakes. Despite the fact of astronomical theory fall, the Ancient Greeks successfully created “mathematical astronomy” that paved the way for future researches and theories. Greeks were so attracted by astronomy, because they watched a lot of complex movements in the sky, which were visible by the naked eye. There were no telescopes or other powerful optical devices, so Ancient Greeks were analyzing complex and intricate sky movements only by their imagination and feelings.
At the early beginning of Ancient Greek Astronomy Stars and other celestial bodies appeared, disappeared and reappeared teasing Greeks curiosity.The ancient Greeks were not the creators of astronomy in its modern form, but they laid the astronomy basics and created place for its future development. According to Heath (2014) the Greeks showed to the world the first real examples of mathematical reasoning and laid the foundation for the understanding of cosmic phenomena. Other ancient cultures were also interested in visible heavenly bodies like Moon and Sun, but they lacked any relevant knowledge in mathematics, physics, had no tools, which should allow them to keep any accurate observations. They were simple afraid by nature and heavenly bodies. But ancient Greeks thought otherwise.
They were driven by thirst for knowledge and they believed that the observation of celestial bodies will allow them to detect hidden regularity behind the complexity of the planets movement. First officially documented studies of the heaven started in Miletus, the southernmost Greek city. In VI BC Miletus was a favorable city for astronomic development, economic success and closeness to Egypt, Babylon provided perfect environment for science and technology development. Milesians first realized the importance of human intellect and its perspective in …
