Calendars and Years

Calendars and Years
Author: John M. Steele
Publisher: Oxbow Books
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2007-10-08
Genre: History
ISBN: 1782974938

Dates form the backbone of written history. But where do these dates come from? Many different calendars were used in the ancient world. Some of these calendars were based upon observations or calculations of regular astronomical phenomena, such as the first sighting of the new moon crescent that defined the beginning of the month in many calendars, while others incorporated schematic simplifications of these phenomena, such as the 360-day year used in early Mesopotamian administrative practices in order to simplify accounting procedures. Historians frequently use handbooks and tables for converting dates in ancient calendars into the familiar BC/AD calendar that we use today. But very few historians understand how these tables have come about, or what assumptions have been made in their construction. The seven papers in this volume provide an answer to the question what do we know about the operation of calendars in the ancient world, and just as importantly how do we know it? Topics covered include the ancient and modern history of the Egyptian 365-day calendar, astronomical and administrative calendars in ancient Mesopotamia, and the development of astronomical calendars in ancient Greece. This book will be of interest to ancient historians, historians of science, astronomers who use early astronomical records, and anyone with an interest in calendars and their development.

Venus, a Longer View

Venus, a Longer View
Author: Guy Ottewell
Publisher:
Total Pages: 140
Release: 2020-06
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9780934546812

The planet Venus: orbit, appearance in our skies, the famous eight-year cycle, transits of the Sun, passages of the Pleiades, visits by spacecraft, amazing physical nature. And the goddess Venus, in Sumerian, Syrian, Greek, Roman myth. Very abundant illustrations: charts and sky scenes for years ahead, diagrams, paintings, sculptures. And abundant selections from the poetry and lore of Love.

Zodiac Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Their Reception

Zodiac Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Their Reception
Author: Helen R. Jacobus
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 555
Release: 2014-10-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004284060

The ancient mathematical basis of the Aramaic calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls is analysed in this investigation. Helen R. Jacobus re-examines an Aramaic zodiac calendar with a thunder divination text (4Q318) and the calendar from the Aramaic Astronomical Book (4Q208 - 4Q209), all from Qumran. Jacobus demonstrates that 4Q318 is an ancestor of the Jewish calendar today and that it helps us to understand 4Q208 - 4Q209. She argues that these calendars were taught in antiquity as angelic knowledge described in 1 Enoch and the Book of Jubilees. The study also encompasses Babylonian, Hellenistic, Byzantine astronomy and astrology, and classical and Jewish writings. Finally, a medieval Hebrew zodiac calendar related to 4Q318 with an astrological text is published here for the first time.

Astronomical Almanac

Astronomical Almanac
Author: The Stationery Office
Publisher: Government Printing Office
Total Pages: 628
Release: 2015-05-15
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780707741581

Prepared jointly with Her Majesty's Nautical Almanac Office, United Kingdom Hydrographic Office. Designed in consultation with other astronomers of many countries. Provides current, accurate astronomical data for use in the making and reduction of observations and for general purposes. The Astronomical Almanac Online extends the printed version by providing data best presented in machine-readable form. Online data are provided for several years. Contains data for astronomy, space sciences, geodesy, surveying, navigation, and other applications.

Astronomical Knowledge Transmission Through Illustrated Aratea Manuscripts

Astronomical Knowledge Transmission Through Illustrated Aratea Manuscripts
Author: Marion Dolan
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 482
Release: 2017-08-22
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3319567845

This carefully researched monograph is a historical investigation of the illustrated Aratea astronomical manuscript and its many interpretations over the centuries. Aratus' 270 B.C.E. Greek poem describing the constellations and astrological phenomena was translated and copied over 800 years into illuminated manuscripts that preserved and illustrated these ancient stories about the constellations. The Aratea survives in its entirety due to multiple translations from Greek to Latin and even to Arabic, with many illuminated versions being commissioned over the ages. The survey encompasses four interrelated disciplines: history of literature, history of myth, history of science, and history of art. Aratea manuscripts by their nature are a meeting place of these distinct branches, and the culling of information from historical literature and from the manuscripts themselves focuses on a wider, holistic view; a narrow approach could not provide a proper prospective. What is most essential to know about this work is that because of its successive incarnations it has survived and been reinterpreted through the centuries, which speaks to its importance in all of these disciplines. This book brings a better understanding of the history, changes and transmission of the original astronomical Phaenomena poem. Historians, art historians, astronomy lovers, and historians of astronomy will learn more specialized details concerning the Aratea and how the tradition survived from the Middle Ages. It is a credit to the poetry of Aratus and the later interpreters of the text that its pagan aspects were not edited nor removed, but respected and maintained in the exact same form despite the fact that all sixty Aratea manuscripts mentioned in this study were produced under the rule of Christianity.