The origin of observational astronomy in ancient egypt, ancient china, ancient india, ancient greece, ancient babylon. Astronomy in ancient greece The origins of astronomy in greece

Exam essay

"Astronomy

Ancient Greece»

Performed

11a grade student

Perestoronina Margarita

Teacher

Zhbannikova Tatiana Vladimirovna

Plan
I Introduction.

II Astronomy of the Ancient Greeks.

1. On the path to truth through knowledge.

2. Aristotle and geocentric system the world.

3. The same Pythagoras.

4. The first heliocentrist.

5. Works of the Alexandrian astronomers

6. Aristarchus: the perfect method (his true works and successes; the reasoning of an outstanding scientist; great theory - failure as a result);

7. “Phaenomena” of Euclid and the main elements of the celestial sphere.

9. Calendar and stars of ancient Greece.

III Conclusion: the role of astronomers in ancient Greece.

Introduction

... Aristarchus of Samos in his "Proposals" -

admitted that the stars, the sun do not change

its position in space that the Earth

moves in a circle around the sun,

located in the center of her path, and that

center of the sphere of fixed stars

coincides with the center of the sun.

Archimedes. Psamite.

Evaluating the path that humanity has traveled in search of the truth about the Earth, we, willingly or unwillingly, turn to the ancient Greeks. Much originated with them, but through them a lot has come down to us from other peoples. This is how history decreed: scientific ideas and territorial discoveries of the Egyptians, Sumerians and other ancient Eastern peoples were often preserved only in the memory of the Greeks, and from them became known to subsequent generations. A vivid example of this is the detailed news about the Phoenicians who inhabited a narrow strip of the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea and in the II-I millennia BC. NS. discovered Europe and the coastal regions of Northwest Africa. Strabo, a Roman scholar and Greek by birth, wrote in his seventeen-volume Geography: "Until now, the Greeks borrow much from the Egyptian priests and Chaldeans." But Strabo was skeptical of his predecessors, including the Egyptians.

Greek civilization flourished between the 6th century BC. and the middle of the 2nd century BC. NS. Chronologically, it almost coincides with the time of the existence of classical Greece and Hellenism. This time, taking into account several centuries, when the Roman Empire rose, flourished and perished, is called the antique. Its initial boundary is considered to be the 7th-2nd century BC, when the city-states-Greek city-states developed rapidly. This form of government has become a hallmark of the Greek world.

The development of knowledge among the Greeks has no analogues in the history of that time. The scale of the comprehension of sciences can be imagined at least by the fact that in less than three centuries (!) Greek mathematics passed its way - from Pythagoras to Euclid, Greek astronomy - from Thales to Euclid, Greek natural science - from Anaximander to Aristotle and Theophrastus, Greek geography - from Hecateus of Miletus to Eratosthenes and Hipparchus, etc.

The discovery of new lands, land or sea wanderings, military campaigns, overpopulation in fertile regions - all this was often mythologized. In poems with the artistic skill inherent in the Greeks, the mythical coexisted with the real. They set out scientific knowledge, information about the nature of things, as well as geographical data. However, the latter is sometimes difficult to identify with today's ideas. And, nevertheless, they are an indicator of the broad views of the Greeks on the oecumene.

The Greeks paid great attention to concretely - the geographical knowledge of the Earth. Even during military campaigns, they were not left with the desire to write down everything that they saw in the conquered countries. In the troops of Alexander the Great, even special pedometers were allocated, which counted the distances traveled, made a description of the routes of movement and put them on the map. On the basis of the data they received, Dicaearchus, a student of the famous Aristotle, compiled detailed map the then, according to his idea, the ecumene.

... The simplest cartographic drawings were known in primitive society, long before the advent of writing. The rock carvings make it possible to judge this. The first cards appeared in Ancient Egypt. On clay tablets, the contours of individual territories were drawn with the designation of some objects. No later than 1700 BC That is, the Egyptians made a map of the developed two thousand-kilometer part of the Nile.

The Babylonians, Assyrians and other peoples of the Ancient East were also engaged in mapping the area ...

How did the Earth see? What place did they take for themselves on it? What was their idea of ​​the ecumene?

Astronomy of the ancient Greeks

In Greek science, the opinion was firmly established (with various, of course, variations) that the Earth was like a flat or convex disk surrounded by an ocean. Many Greek thinkers did not abandon this point of view even when, in the era of Plato and Aristotle, the idea of ​​the sphericity of the Earth seemed to prevail. Alas, already in those distant times a progressive idea made its way with great difficulty, demanded sacrifices from its supporters, but, fortunately, then “talent did not seem heresy”, and “no boots were used in arguments”.

The idea of ​​a disc (a drum or even a cylinder) was very convenient for confirming the widespread belief about the middle position of Hellas. It was also quite acceptable for the depiction of land floating in the ocean.

Within the disc-shaped (and later spherical) Earth, an ecumene was distinguished. Which in ancient Greek means the whole inhabited earth, the universe. The designation in one word of two seemingly different concepts (for the Greeks then they seemed one-ordinal) is deeply symptomatic.

There is little reliable information about Pythagoras (6th century BC). It is known that he was born on the island of Samos; probably in his youth he visited Miletus, where he studied with Anaximander; maybe he made more distant journeys. Already in adulthood, the philosopher moved to the city of Croton and founded there something like a religious oden - the Pythagorean brotherhood, which extended its influence to many Greek cities in southern Italy. The life of the brotherhood was surrounded by mystery. There were legends about its founder Pythagoras, which, apparently, had some basis under themselves: the great scientist was no less a great politician and seer.

The basis of the teachings of Pythagoras was the belief in the transmigration of souls and the harmonious structure of the world. He believed that the soul was purified by music and mental labor, therefore the Pythagoreans considered perfection in the “four arts” - arithmetic, music, geometry and astronomy - to be impeded. Pythagoras himself is the founder of number theory, and the theorem he proved is known to every schoolchild today. And if Anaxagoras and Democritus in their views on the world developed Anaximander's idea of ​​the physical causes of natural phenomena, then Pythagoras shared his conviction in the mathematical harmony of the cosmos.

The Pythagoreans ruled the Greek cities of Italy for several decades, then they were defeated and withdrew from politics. However, much of what Pythagoras breathed into them remained alive and had a huge impact on science. Now it is very difficult to separate the contribution of Pythagoras himself from the achievements of his followers. This applies especially to astronomy, in which several fundamentally new ideas were put forward. About them can be judged by the scanty information that has come down to us about the ideas of the late Pythagoreans and the teachings of philosophers who were influenced by the ideas of Pythagoras.

Aristotle and the first scientific picture of the world

Aristotle was born in the Macedonian city of Stagira into the family of a court physician. At the age of seventeen he went to Athens, where he became a student of the Academy founded by the philosopher Plato.

At first, the system of Plato attracted Aristotle, but gradually he came to the conclusion that the views of the teacher lead away from the truth. And then Aristotle left the Academy, throwing the famous phrase: "Plato is my friend, but the truth is dearer." Emperor Philip the Great invites Aristotle to become the tutor of the heir to the throne. The philosopher agrees, and for three years he has been close to the future founder of the great empire, Alexander the Great. At sixteen, his disciple led the army of his father and, having defeated the Thebans in his first battle at Chaeronea, went on campaigns.

Again Aristotle moved to Athens, and in one of the districts called Lyceum, he opened a school. He writes a lot. His writings are so varied that it is difficult to imagine Aristotle as a lonely thinker. Most likely, during these years he acted as the head of a large school, where students worked under his leadership, just as today graduate students develop topics that are offered to them by the leaders.

The Greek philosopher paid much attention to questions of the structure of the world. Aristotle was convinced that the center of the universe was certainly the earth.

Aristotle tried to explain everything by reasons that are close to the common sense of the observer. So, observing the moon, he noticed that in different phases it exactly corresponds to the form that would take a ball, on the one hand, illuminated by the sun. Equally strict and logical was his proof of the sphericity of the Earth. Having discussed all the possible reasons for the eclipse of the moon, Aristotle comes to the conclusion that the shadow on its surface can only belong to the Earth. And since the shadow is round, then the body casting it must have the same shape. But Aristotle is not limited to them. “Why,” he asks, “when we move north or south, do the constellations change their positions relative to the horizon?” And then he answers: "Because the Earth has a curvature." Indeed, if the Earth were flat, wherever the observer was, the same constellations would shine above his head. It is quite another matter - on a round Earth. Here, each observer has his own horizon, his own horizon, his own sky ... However, recognizing the sphericity of the Earth, Aristotle categorically spoke out against the possibility of its revolution around the Sun. “Be it so,” he reasoned, “it would seem to us that the stars are not motionless on the celestial sphere, but describe circles ...” This was a serious objection, perhaps the most serious one, which was removed only many, many centuries later, in the 19th century.

Much has been written about Aristotle. The authority of this philosopher is incredibly high. And it is well deserved. Because, despite the rather numerous errors and delusions, in his writings Aristotle collected everything that reason achieved during the period of ancient civilization. His works are a real encyclopedia of contemporary science.

According to the testimony of contemporaries, the great philosopher was distinguished by an unimportant character. The portrait that has come down to us presents us with a small, lean man with an eternally sarcastic grin on his lips.

He spoke cortavo.

In relationships with people, he was cold and arrogant.

But few dared to enter into an argument with him. Aristotle's witty, evil and mocking speech struck on the spot. He smashed the arguments raised against him deftly, logically and cruelly, which, of course, did not add to him supporters among the vanquished.

After the death of Alexander the Great, the offended finally felt a real opportunity to get even with the philosopher and accused him of godlessness. Aristotle's fate was sealed. Without waiting for the verdict, Aristotle flees from Athens. “To free the Athenians from a new crime against philosophy,” he says, hinting at a similar fate for Socrates, who was sentenced to a bowl of poisonous hemlock juice.

After leaving Athens for Asia Minor, Aristotle soon dies, poisoned during a meal. This is what the legend says.

According to legend, Aristotle bequeathed his manuscripts to one of his students named Theophrastus.

After the death of the philosopher, a real hunt begins for his works. In those years, books were a jewel in themselves. Aristotle's books were worth more than gold. They passed from hand to hand. They were hidden in the cellars. They were buried in cellars to keep the kings of Pergamon from the greed. Damp spoiled their pages. Already under Roman rule, the writings of Aristotle entered Rome as war booty. Here they are sold to amateurs - the rich. Some people are trying to restore the damaged parts of the manuscripts, to provide them with their own additions, from which the text, of course, does not get better.

Why were the works of Aristotle valued so much? Indeed, in the books of other Greek philosophers, there were more original thoughts. This question is answered by the English philosopher and physicist John Bernal. Here is what he writes: “No one could understand them (the ancient Greek thinkers), except for very well-trained and sophisticated readers. And the works of Aristotle, for all their cumbersomeness, did not require (or did not seem to require) for their understanding anything but common sense ... To verify his observations, there was no need for experiments or instruments, and difficult mathematical calculations or mystical intuition were not needed either. to understand any inner meaning ... Aristotle explained that the world is as everyone knows it, exactly as they know it. "

Time will pass, and the authority of Aristotle will become unconditional. If at the dispute one philosopher, confirming his arguments, refers to his works, this will mean that the arguments are certainly correct. And then the second disputant must find in the works of the same Aristotle another quotation, with the help of which it is possible to refute the first ... Only Aristotle against Aristotle. Other arguments against quotations were powerless. This method of arguing is called dogmatic, and, of course, there is not an ounce of benefit or truth in it ... But many centuries had to pass before people realized this and rose to fight dead scholasticism and dogmatism. This struggle revived science, revived art and gave the name of the era - Renaissance.

The first heliocentrist

In ancient times, the question of whether the earth moves around the sun was simply blasphemous. Both famous scientists and simple people, for whom the picture of the sky did not cause much thought, were sincerely convinced that the Earth is stationary and represents the center of the universe. However, modern historians can name at least one ancient scientist who questioned the conventional and tried to develop a theory according to which the Earth moves around the Sun.

The life of Aristarchus of Samos (310 - 250 BC) was closely connected with the Library of Alexandria. Information about him is very scarce, and only the book "On the Sizes of the Sun and the Moon and the Distances to Them", written in 265 BC, remained from the creative heritage. Only mentions of him by other scholars of the Alexandrian school, and later by the Romans, shed some light on his "blasphemous" scientific research.

Aristarchus wondered what is the distance from the Earth to the celestial bodies, and what are their sizes. Before him, the Pythagoreans tried to answer this question, but they proceeded from arbitrary sentences. So, Philolaus believed that the distances between the planets and the Earth grow exponentially and each next planet is three times farther from the Earth than the previous one.

Aristarchus went his own way, completely correct point of view modern science... He closely watched the moon and the change in its phases. At the moment of the onset of the phase of the first quarter, he measured the angle between the Moon, Earth and the Sun (angle LZS in the figure). If this is done accurately enough, then only calculations will remain in the problem. At this moment, the Earth, the Moon and the Sun form a right-angled triangle, and, as is known from geometry, the sum of the angles in it is 180 degrees. In this case, the second acute angle Earth - Sun - Moon (angle ZSL) is equal to

90˚ - Ð LZS = Ð ZSL

Determination of the distance from the Earth to the Moon and the Sun by the method of Aristarchus.

Aristarchus obtained from his measurements and calculations that this angle is 3º (in reality its value is 10 ’) and that the Sun is 19 times farther from the Earth than the Moon (in reality 400 times). Here we must forgive the scientist for a significant error, because the method was absolutely correct, but the inaccuracies in measuring the angle turned out to be great. It was difficult to accurately capture the moment of the first quarter, and the measuring instruments themselves of antiquity were far from perfect.

But this was only the first success of the remarkable astronomer Aristarchus of Samos. He had to observe a total solar eclipse when the lunar disk covered the solar disk, that is, the apparent sizes of both bodies in the sky were the same. Aristarchus rummaged through the old archives, where he found a lot of additional information about eclipses. It turned out that in some cases solar eclipses were annular, that is, a small luminous rim from the Sun remained around the Moon's disk (the presence of total and annular eclipses is due to the fact that the Moon's orbit around the Earth is an ellipse). But if the visible disks of the Sun and the Moon in the sky are practically the same, Aristarchus reasoned, and the Sun is 19 times farther from the Earth than the Moon, then its diameter should be 19 times larger. How do the diameters of the Sun and the Earth compare? According to many data on lunar eclipses, Aristarchus established that the lunar diameter is about one third of the earth's diameter and, therefore, the latter should be 6.5 times smaller than the solar one. In this case, the volume of the Sun should be 300 times the volume of the Earth. All these considerations distinguish Aristarchus of Samos as an outstanding scientist of his time.

body ”Aristotle. But can a huge Sun revolve around a small Earth? Or even more huge Everything -

lazy? And Aristotle said - no, it cannot. The Sun is the center of the Universe, the Earth and the planets revolve around it, and only the Moon revolves around the Earth.

And why on Earth does day give way to night? And Aristarchus gave the correct answer to this question - the Earth not only revolves around the Sun, but also revolves around its axis.

And he answered one more question quite correctly. Let us give an example with a moving train, when external objects close to the passenger run past the window faster than distant ones. The earth moves around the sun, but why does the star pattern remain unchanged? Aristotle replied: "Because the stars are unimaginably far from the small Earth." The volume of the sphere of fixed stars is so many times greater than the volume of a sphere with a radius of the Earth - the Sun, how many times the volume of the latter is greater than the volume of the globe.

This new theory was called heliocentric, and its essence was that the stationary sun was placed in the center of the universe and the sphere of stars was also considered stationary. Archimedes in his book "Psamite", an excerpt from which is given as an epigraph to this essay, accurately conveyed everything that Aristarchus proposed, but he himself preferred to "return" the Earth to its old place again. Other scholars completely rejected Aristarchus's theory as implausible, and the idealist philosopher Cleantus simply accused him of blasphemy. The ideas of the great astronomer did not find grounds at that time for further development, they determined the development of science for about one and a half thousand years and then revived only in the works of the Polish scientist Nicolaus Copernicus.

The ancient Greeks believed that poetry, music, painting and science were patronized by nine muses, who were the daughters of Mnemosyne and Zeus. So, the muse Urania patronized astronomy and was portrayed with a crown of stars and a scroll in her hands. Clio was considered the muse of history, the muse of dances - Terpsichore, the muse of tragedies - Melpomene, etc. The muses were the companions of the god Apollo, and their temple was called the museum - the house of the muses. Such temples were built both in the metropolis and in the colonies, but the Alexandria Museum became an outstanding academy of sciences and arts of the ancient world.

Ptolemy Lag, being a persistent person and wanting to leave a memory of himself in history, not only strengthened the state, but also turned the capital into a trade center for the entire Mediterranean, and the Museumon - into a scientific center of the Hellenistic era. The huge building housed a library, a higher school, an astronomical observatory, a medical - anatomical school and a number of scientific departments. Museumon was government agency, and his expenses will provide -

were the corresponding budget item. Ptolemy, as in his time Ashurbanipal in Babylon, sent scribes throughout the country to collect cultural property. In addition, every ship calling at the port of Alexandria was obliged to transfer literary works on board to the library. Scientists from other countries considered it an honor to work in the scientific institutions of the Museum and leave their works here. Astronomers Aristarchus of Samos and Hipparchus, physicist and engineer Heron, mathematicians Euclid and Archimedes, physician Herophilus, astronomer and geographer Claudius Ptolemy and Eratosthenes, who were equally well versed in mathematics, geography, astronomy, and philosophy, worked in Alexandria for four centuries.

But the latter was already rather an exception, since an important feature of the Hellenic era was the "differentiation" of scientific activity. It is curious to note here that such a selection individual sciences, and in astronomy and specialization in certain areas, happened in ancient China much earlier.

Another feature of Hellenic science was that it again turned to nature, i.e. began to "extract" the facts herself. The encyclopedists of Ancient Hellas relied on information obtained by the Egyptians and Babylonians, and therefore were only looking for the reasons causing certain phenomena. The science of Democritus, Anaxagoras, Plato and Aristotle in still to a greater extent was inherent in a speculative character, although their theories can be considered as the first serious attempts of mankind to understand the structure of nature and the entire universe. Alexandrian astronomers closely followed the movement of the moon, planets, sun and stars. The complexity of planetary movements and the richness of the stellar world forced them to seek starting positions from which systematic studies could begin.

"Phaenomena" of Euclid and the main elements of the celestial sphere

As mentioned above, the Alexandrian astronomers tried to determine the "starting points" for further systematic research. In this respect, special merit belongs to the mathematician Euclid (3rd century BC), who, in his book Phaenomena, was the first to introduce concepts into astronomy that had not been used in it until then. So, he gave definitions of the horizon - a large circle, which is the intersection of the plane perpendicular to the plumb line at the point of observation, with the celestial sphere, as well as the celestial equator - the circle obtained when the plane of the earth's equator intersects with this sphere.

In addition, he determined the zenith - the point of the celestial sphere above the observer's head ("zenith" is an Arabic word) - and the point opposite to the zenith point - nadir.

And Euclid also spoke about one more circle. This is heaven -

ny meridian - a large circle passing through the Pole of the World and the zenith. It is formed at the intersection with the celestial sphere of a plane passing through the axis of the world (axis of rotation) and a plumb line (that is, a plane perpendicular to the plane of the earth's equator). Take -

Based on the value of the meridian, Euclid said that when the Sun crosses the meridian, noon occurs in this place and the shadows of objects are the shortest. To the east of this place, noon on the globe has already passed, but to the west it has not yet arrived. As we remember, the principle of measuring the shadow of a gnomon on Earth has been the basis for the construction of sundials for many centuries.

The brightest "star" of the Alexandrian sky.

Earlier we have already got acquainted with the results of the activities of many astronomers, both famous and those

whose names have sunk into oblivion. Even thirty centuries before the new era, Heliopolis astronomers in Egypt established the length of the year with amazing accuracy. The curly-headed priests - astronomers, who observed the sky from the peaks of the Babylonian ziggurats, were able to draw the path of the Sun among the constellations - the ecliptic, as well as the heavenly paths of the Moon and stars. In distant and mysterious China, the inclination of the ecliptic to the celestial equator was measured with high precision.

Ancient Greek philosophies sowed seeds of doubt about the divine origin of the world. Under Aristarchus, Euclid and Eratosthenes, astronomy, which until then gave most of astrology, began to systematize its research, having stood on the firm ground of true knowledge.

And yet what Hipparchus did about the field of astronomy far surpasses the achievements of both his predecessors and scientists of a later time. With good reason, Hipparchus is called the father of scientific astronomy. He was extremely punctual in his research, repeatedly checking the conclusions with new observations and striving to discover the essence of the phenomena occurring in the Universe.

The history of science does not know where and when Hipparchus was born; it is only known that the most fruitful period of his life falls on the time between 160 and 125. BC NS.

He spent most of his research at the Alexandria Observatory, as well as at his own observatory built on the island of Samos.

Even before the Hipparchateories of the celestial spheres, Eudoxus and Aristotle were rethought, in particular, by the great Alexandrian mathematician Apollonius of Perga (3rd century BC), but the Earth still remained in the center of the orbits of all celestial bodies.

Hipparchus continued the development of the theory of circular orbits, begun by Apolonius, but made significant additions to it based on long-term observations. Earlier, Calippus, a disciple of Eudoxus, discovered that the seasons have different lengths. Hipparchus checked this statement and specified that the astronomical spring lasts 94 and ½ days, summer - 94 and ½ days, autumn - 88 days and, finally, winter lasts 90 days. Thus, the time interval between the spring and autumn equinoxes (including summer) is 187 days, and the interval from the autumn equinox to the spring equinox (including winter) is 88 + 90 = 178 days. Consequently, the Sun moves unevenly along the ecliptic - slower in summer and faster in winter. Another explanation of the reason for the difference is possible, if we assume that the orbit is not a circle, but an “elongated” closed curve (Apolonius of Perga called it an ellipse). However, to accept the uneven motion of the Sun and the difference between the orbit and the circular one meant turning upside down all the concepts that had been established since the time of Plato. Therefore, Hipparchus introduced a system of eccentric circles, suggesting that the Sun revolves around the Earth in a circular orbit, but the Earth itself is not at its center. The unevenness in this case is only apparent, because if the Sun is closer, then there is an impression of its faster movement, and vice versa.

However, for Hipparchus, the direct and backward movements of the planets remained a mystery, i.e. the origin of the loops that the planets described in the sky. Changes in the apparent brightness of the planets (especially for Mars and Venus) testified that they also move in eccentric orbits, now approaching the Earth, then moving away from it and, accordingly, changing the brightness. But what is the reason for the direct and backward movements? Hipparchus came to the conclusion that the location of the Earth away from the center of the orbits of the planets is not enough to explain this riddle. Three centuries later, the last of the great Alexandrians, Claudius Ptolemy, noted that Hipparchus abandoned the search in this direction and limited himself only to the systematization of his own observations and the observations of his predecessors. It is curious that at the time of Hipparchus, the concept of an epicycle already existed in astronomy, the introduction of which is attributed to Apollonius of Perga. But one way or another, Hipparchus did not engage in the theory of planetary motion.

But he successfully modified the method of Aristarchus, which makes it possible to determine the distance to the Moon and the Sun. The spatial arrangement of the Sun, Earth and Moon during a lunar eclipse when observations were made.

Hipparchus was also famous for his work in the field of stellar research. He, like his predecessors, believed that the sphere of fixed stars really exists, i.e. objects located on it are at the same distance from the Earth. But why, then, are some of them brighter than others? Therefore, Hipparchus believed that their true sizes are not the same - the larger the star, the brighter it is. He divided the brightness range into six magnitudes, from the first - for the brightest stars to the sixth - for the faintest, still visible to the naked eye (of course, there were no telescopes then). In the modern magnitude scale, a difference of one magnitude corresponds to a 2.5-fold difference in radiation intensity.

In 134 BC, a new star shone in the constellation Scorpio (it has now been established that new stars are binary systems in which an explosion of matter occurs on the surface of one of the components, accompanied by a rapid increase in the object's bleak, followed by fading). there was nothing there, and therefore Hipparchus came to the conclusion that it was necessary to create an accurate star catalog. With extraordinary care, the great astronomer measured the ecliptic coordinates of about 1000 stars, and also estimated their magnitudes on his own scale.

While doing this work, he decided to check the opinion that the stars are motionless. More precisely, descendants had to do it. Hipparchus compiled a list of stars located in a straight line, in the hope that future generations of astronomers would check whether this line remains straight.

While compiling the catalog, Hipparchus made a remarkable discovery. He compared his results with the coordinates of a number of stars measured before him by Aristil and Timocharis (contemporaries of Aristarchus of Samos), and found that the ecliptic longitudes of the objects increased by about 2º over 150 years. At the same time, the ecliptic latitudes did not change. It became clear that the reason is not in the proper motions of the stars, otherwise both coordinates would change, but in the movement of the vernal equinox point, from which the ecliptic longitude is measured, and in the direction opposite to the movement of the Sun along the ecliptic. As you know, the vernal equinox is the intersection of the ecliptic with the celestial equator. Since the ecliptic latitude does not change over time, Hipparchus concluded that the reason for the displacement of this point is the movement of the equator.

Thus, we have the right to be surprised at the extraordinary consistency and rigor in the scientific research of Hipparchus, as well as their high accuracy. The French scientist Delambre, a famous researcher of ancient astronomy, described his activities as follows: “When you take a look at all the discoveries and improvements of Hipparchus, reflect on the number of his works and the multitude of calculations given there, willy-nilly you will classify him as one of the most outstanding people of antiquity and, moreover, you will call the greatest among them. Everything he has achieved belongs to the field of science, where geometric knowledge is required in combination with an understanding of the essence of phenomena that can be observed only if the instruments are carefully made ... "

Calendar and stars

In ancient Greece, as in the countries of the East, the lunisolar calendar was used as a religious and civil one. In it, the beginning of each calendar month should have been located as close as possible to the new moon, and the average length of the calendar year should, if possible, correspond to the time interval between the spring equinoxes (“tropical year”, as it is now called). At the same time, months of 30 and 29 days alternated. But 12 lunar months are about a third of a month shorter than a year. Therefore, in order to fulfill the second requirement, from time to time it was necessary to resort to intercalations - to add an additional, thirteenth, month in some years.

The inserts were made irregularly by the government of each city-state. For this, special persons were appointed who monitored the magnitude of the lag of the calendar year from the solar one. In Greece, divided into small states, calendars had a local meaning - there were about 400 names of months in the Greek world. The mathematician and musicologist Aristoxenus (354-300 BC) wrote about the calendar disorder: “The tenth day of the month among the Corinthians is the fifth day the Athenian has the eighth from someone else "

A simple and accurate 19-year cycle, used as far back as Babylon, was proposed in 433 BC. Athenian astronomer Meton. This cycle involved the insertion of seven additional months in 19 years; its error did not exceed two hours in one cycle.

Farmers associated with seasonal work, from ancient times, also used the stellar calendar, which did not depend on the complex movements of the Sun and Moon. Hesiod in the poem "Works and Days", indicating to his brother Persus the time of agricultural work, marks them not according to the lunisolar calendar, but according to the stars:

Only in the east will they begin to rise

Atlantis Pleiades,

Hurry to reap, and they will begin

Come in, start sowing ...

Sirius is high in the sky

Got up with Orion,

The rosy Dawn is already beginning

See Arthur

Cut, O Pers, and take home

Bunches of grapes ...

Thus, a good knowledge of the starry sky, which few people in the modern world can boast of, was necessary for the ancient Greeks and, obviously, was widespread. Apparently, this science was taught to children in families from an early age. The lunar-solar calendar was also used in Rome. But even greater “calendar arbitrariness” reigned here. The length and beginning of the year depended on the pontiffs (from Lat. Pontifices), Roman priests, who often used their rights for selfish purposes. Such a situation could not satisfy the huge empire into which the Roman state was rapidly turning. In 46 BC. Julius Caesar (100-44 BC), who acted not only as the head of state, but also as the high priest, carried out a calendar reform. On his behalf, the new calendar was developed by the Alexandrian mathematician and astronomer Sozigen, a Greek by origin. He took the Egyptian, purely solar, calendar as a basis. The refusal to take into account the lunar phases made it possible to make the calendar quite simple and accurate. This calendar, called the Julian calendar, was used in the Christian world before the introduction of the revised Gregorian calendar in Catholic countries in the 16th century.

The Julian calendar began in 45 BC. The beginning of the year was postponed to January 1 (earlier the first month was March). In gratitude for the introduction of the calendar, the Senate decided to rename the month of quintilis (fifth), in which Caesar was born, to Julius - our July. In 8 BC. the honor of the next emperor, Octivian Augustus, the month of sextilis (sixth), was renamed to August. When Tiberius, the third princeps (emperor), the senators proposed to name the month of the september (seventh) by his name, he allegedly refused, answering: "And what will the thirteenth do princeps? "

The new calendar turned out to be purely civil, religious holidays, by virtue of tradition, were still managed in accordance with the phases of the moon. And now the Easter holiday is consistent with the lunar calendar, and the cycle proposed by Meton is used to calculate its date.

Conclusion

In the distant Middle Ages, Bernard of Chartres spoke golden words to his disciples: “We are like dwarfs sitting on the shoulders of giants; we see more and farther than they, not because we have better eyesight, and not because we are taller than them, but because they lifted us up and increased our growth with their greatness. Astronomers of all ages have always relied on the shoulders of previous giants.

Ancient astronomy occupies a special place in the history of science. It was in ancient Greece that the foundations of modern scientific thinking were laid. For seven and a half centuries, from Thales and Anaximander, who took the first steps in understanding the Universe, to Claudius Ptolemy, who created the mathematical theory of the motion of the luminaries, ancient scientists went a long way, on which they had no predecessors. Astronomers of antiquity used data obtained long before them in Babylon. However, to process them, they created completely new mathematical methods, which were adopted by medieval Arab and later European astronomers.

In 1922, the International Astronomical Congress approved 88 international names for the constellations, thereby perpetuating the memory of the ancient Greek myths after which the constellations were named: Perseus, Andromeda, Hercules, etc. (about 50 constellations). The meaning of ancient Greek science is emphasized by the words: planet, comet, galaxy and the word Astronomy itself.

List of used literature

1. "Encyclopedia for Children". Astronomy. (M. Aksenova, V. Tsvetkov, A. Zasov, 1997)

2. “Astrologers of Antiquity”. (N. Nikolov, V. Kharalampiev, 1991)

3. “Discovery of the Universe - past, present, future”. (A. Potupa, 1991)

4. “Horizons of the Ecumene”. (Yu. Gladkiy, Al. Grigoriev, V. Yagya, 1990)

5. Astronomy, grade 11. (E. Levitan, 1994)

Abstract Defense Plan

Other materials

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The inscriptions on ancient bronze are of importance for the history of ancient Chinese astronomy. Shinzo used the astronomical dates of 180 bronze texts in his research. 2. As far as can be found out from the work already done, in the development of ancient Chinese astronomy, starting from times lost in darkness ...




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That the performance of astronomical observations was only one necessary facet of the complex, complex function that the settlement of the ancient Aryans performed among a spacious valley in the depths of the great Ural-Kazakhstan steppe. What was this feature? To answer this question convincingly ...

Campaigns in Asia, during which he creates an Egyptian world state, which included Egypt, Nubia, Kush, Libya, the regions of Western Asia (Syria, Palestine, Phenicia), for which the pharaoh is considered to be “Napoleon Of the ancient world". 1468 BC NS. Battle of Megiddo (Megiddon) in Palestine: Thutmose III led ...




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Aristarchus (about 310-250 - 3rd century BC) was born on the island of Samos. He was a student of the physicist Straton of Lampsac. His teacher belonged to the school of Aristotle and at the end of his life even led Lyceum. He was one of the founders of the famous Library of Alexandria and the Museion, the main scientific center of late antiquity. Apparently, here, among the first generation of Alexandrian scholars, Aristarchus studied and worked.

All this, however, does not explain the personality of Aristarchus, who seems to be completely falling out of his era. Before him, theories of the sky were built purely speculatively, on the basis of philosophical arguments. It could not be otherwise, since the sky was viewed as the world of the ideal, eternal, divine. Aristarchus tried to determine the distance to celestial bodies using observations. When he succeeded, he took the second step, which neither his contemporaries nor scientists were ready for many centuries later.

How Aristarchus solved the first problem is known for sure. His only surviving book, "On the Sizes of the Sun and the Moon and the Distances to Them," is precisely devoted to this problem. First, Aristarchus determined how many times the Sun is further from the Moon. To do this, he measured the angle between the moon, which was in the quarter phase, and the sun (this can be done at sunset or sunrise, when the moon is sometimes visible at the same time). If, according to Aristarchus, “The moon seems to us to be cut in half,” the angle that has the moon as its top is straight. Aristarchus measured the angle between the Moon and the Sun, at the apex of which was the Earth. He turned out to be equal to 87 ° (actually 89 ° 5 2 "). right triangle with this angle, the hypotenuse (the distance from the Earth to the Sun) is 19 times longer than the leg (the distance to the Moon). For those who know trigonometry, note that 1/19 to cos 87 °. At this conclusion - the Sun is 19 times farther than the Moon - Aristarchus stopped.

In fact, the Sun is 400 times farther, but with the instruments of that time, it was impossible to find the correct value. Aristarchus knew that the visible disks of the Sun and the Moon are about the same. He himself observed a solar eclipse when the disk of the moon completely covered the disk of the sun. But if the visible disks are equal, and the distance to the Sun is 19 times greater than the distance to the Moon, then the diameter of the Sun is 19 times the diameter of the Moon. Now the main thing remains: to compare the Sun and the Moon with the Earth itself. The pinnacle of scientific courage then was the idea that the sun is very large, perhaps even almost as large as all of Greece. Observing lunar eclipses when the Moon passes through the shadow of the Earth, Aristarchus found that the diameter of the Moon is half the size of the Earth's shadow. With the help of rather ingenious reasoning, he proved that the Moon is 3 times smaller than the Earth. But the Sun is 19 times larger than the Moon, which means that its diameter is more than 6 times the Earth's (actually 109 times). The main thing in the work of Aristarchus was not the result, but the very fact of fulfillment, which proved that the unattainable world of celestial bodies can be cognized with the help of measurements and calculations.

Apparently, all this pushed Aristarchus to his great discovery. His idea came down to us only in the retelling of Archimedes. Aristarchus guessed that the large Sun cannot revolve around the small Earth. Only the Moon revolves around the Earth. The sun is the center of the universe. The planets revolve around it. This theory is called heliocentric. Aristarchus explained the change of day and night on Earth by the fact that the Earth rotates on its axis. His heliocentric model explained a lot, such as the noticeable change in the brightness of Mars. Judging by some data, Aristarchus also guessed that his theory naturally explains the loop-like motion of the planets caused by the revolution of the Earth around the Sun.
Aristarchus thought out his theories well. He took into account, in particular, the fact that an observer on a moving Earth should notice a change in the positions of the stars - a parallax displacement. Aristarchus explained the apparent immobility of the stars by the fact that they are very far from the Earth, and its orbit is infinitely small in comparison with this distance. Aristarchus's theory could not be accepted by his contemporaries. There were too many things to change. It was impossible to believe that our support does not rest, but rotates and moves and to realize all the consequences of the fact that the Earth is also a celestial body, similar to Venus or Mars. Indeed, in this case, the thousand-year idea of ​​Heaven, majestically gazing at the earthly world, would have collapsed.
Aristarchus' contemporaries rejected heliocentrism. He was accused of blasphemy and expelled from Alexandria. After several centuries, Claudius Ptolemy will find convincing theoretical arguments that refute the movement of the Earth. A change of eras will be required for heliocentrism to enter the consciousness of people.

Aristarchus compares the distance to the Sun and the Moon

Plato argued that the Sun is exactly twice as far from the Earth as the Moon. "Let's see if this is so," thought Aristarchus and drew a triangle.

The observer is watching from the Earth T to the sun and moon. The moon is in the first quarter phase. It happens when the corner TLS straight. According to Plato, TS = 2TL so the angle TLS= 60 °. But this cannot be, because during the first quarter phase, the Moon is separated from the Sun by about 90 °. And if you measure it exactly? Aristarchus measured TLS at the moment of the first quarter and got an angle of 87 °.

HIPPARCH

“This Hipparchus, who cannot fail to deserve sufficient praise ... more than anyone has proved the kinship of man with the stars and that our souls are part of the sky ...

gods, - to rewrite the stars for posterity and count the luminaries ... He determined the places and brightness of many stars, so that one could make out whether they disappear, whether they appear again, whether they move, whether they change in brightness.

He left the heavens as an inheritance to the descendants, if there is someone who will accept this inheritance "- this is how the Roman historian and naturalist Pliny the Elder wrote about the greatest astronomer of Ancient Greece.

The years of birth and death of Hipparchus are unknown. It is only known that he was born in the city of Nicaea, in Asia Minor.

Most of his life (1b0 - 125 BC) Hipparchus spent on the island of Rhodes in the Aegean Sea. There he built an observatory.

Almost nothing has survived from the works of Hipparchus. Only one of his works has come down to us - "Comments on Arat and Eudoxus". Others perished along with the Library of Alexandria. It existed for more than three centuries - from the end of the 4th century. BC NS. and before

47 BC e., when the troops of Julius Caesar took Alexandria and plundered the library. In 391 A.D. NS. a crowd of Christian fanatics burned most of the manuscripts that miraculously survived during the invasion of the Romans. The complete destruction was completed by the Arabs. When in

641, the troops of Caliph Omar took Alexandria, he ordered to burn all the manuscripts. Only accidentally hidden or previously rewritten manuscripts survived and later ended up in Baghdad.
Hipparchus was engaged in systematic observations of celestial bodies. He was the first to introduce a geographic grid of coordinates from meridians and parallels, which made it possible to determine the latitude and longitude of a place on Earth in the same way that astronomers had previously determined the stellar coordinates (declination and right ascension) on an imaginary celestial sphere.
Long-term observations of the movement of the daylight allowed Hipparchus to verify the statements of Euctemon (5th century BC) and Callippus (4th century BC) that the astronomical seasons have different durations. They begin on the day and even at the moment of the equinox or solstice: spring - from the vernal equinox, summer - from the summer solstice, etc.
Hipparchus found that spring lasts approximately 94.5 days, summer 92.5 days, autumn 88 days, and finally winter lasts approximately 90 days. From this it followed that the Sun moves unevenly along the ecliptic - slower in summer and faster in winter. This had to be somehow reconciled with the ancient ideas about the perfection of heavenly movements: the sun should move uniformly and in a circle.
Hipparchus suggested that the Sun revolves around the Earth evenly and in a circle, but the Earth is displaced relative to its center. Hipparchus called such an orbit an eccentric, and the magnitude of the displacement of the centers (in relation to the radius) - eccentricity... He found that to explain the different lengths of the seasons, one must take the eccentricity equal to 1/24. The point of the orbit at which the Sun is closest to the Earth was named by Hipparchus perigee, and the most distant point - apogee... The line connecting perigee and apogee was named line of apses(from the Greek "apsidos" - "vault", "arch").
In 133 BC. NS. a new star flashed in the constellation Scorpio. According to Pliny, this event prompted Hipparchus to compile a star catalog in order to record changes in the sphere of "unchanging stars". He determined the coordinates of 850 stars relative to the ecliptic - ecliptic latitude and longitude. At the same time, Hipparchus estimated the brilliance of the stars with the help of the concept he introduced stellar magnitude... He attributed the brightest stars to the 1st magnitude, and the faintest, barely visible, to the 6th.
Comparing his results with the coordinates of some stars measured by Aristil and Timocharis (contemporaries of Aristarchus of Samos), Hipparchus found that the ecliptic longitudes increased the same, but the latitudes did not change. From this, he concluded that the matter is not in the movement of the stars themselves, but in the slow displacement of the celestial equator.
So Hipparchus discovered that the celestial sphere, in addition to the daily movement, still very slowly rotates around the pole of the ecliptic relative to the equator (the exact period is 26 thousand years). He called this phenomenon precession(the anticipation of the equinoxes).

Hipparchus established that the plane of the lunar orbit around the Earth is inclined to the plane of the ecliptic at an angle of 5 °. Therefore, the Moon changes not only the ecliptic latitude, but also the longitude. The lunar orbit intersects with the ecliptic plane at two points - nodes. Eclipses can only occur if the Moon is at these points in its orbit. Having observed several lunar eclipses during his life (they occur on a full moon), Hipparchus determined that the synodic month (the time between two full moons) lasts 29 days 12 hours 44 minutes 2.5 s. This value is only 0.5 seconds less than the true value.
Hipparchus first began to make extensive use of the ancient observations of Babylonian astronomers. This allowed him to very accurately determine the length of the year. As a result of his research, he learned to predict lunar and solar eclipses with an accuracy of one hour. Along the way, he compiled the first trigonometric table in history, in which the chord values ​​corresponding to modern sines were given.
Hipparchus was the second after Aristarchus to find the distance to the Moon, also estimating the distance to the Sun. He knew that during the solar eclipse of 129 BC. NS. it was complete in the Hellespont region (modern Dardanelles). In Alexandria, the Moon covered only 4/5 of the solar diameter. In other words, the apparent position of the moon did not coincide in these cities by 0.1 °. Knowing the distance between cities, Hipparchus easily found the distance to the Moon, using the method introduced by Thales. He calculated that the distance between the Earth and the Moon is about 60 Earth radii (a result that is very close to reality). The distance between the Earth and the Sun, according to Hipparchus, is equal to 2 thousand radii of the Earth.
Hipparchus discovered that the observed motions of the planets are very complex and cannot be described by simple geometric models... Here, for the first time, he faced a problem that he was unable to solve. Only three centuries later, the "celestial legacy" of the great astronomer was accepted by Ptolemy, who was able to build a system of the world consistent with observers.

Claudius Ptolemy. CREATOR OF THE THEORY OF SKY

“Let no one, looking at the imperfection of our human inventions, consider the hypotheses proposed here too artificial. We should not compare the human with the divine ... Celestial phenomena cannot be viewed from the point of view of what we call simple and complex. After all, with us everything is arbitrary and variable, but with heavenly beings everything is strict and unchanging. "

With these words, the last of the outstanding Greek scientists, Claudius Ptolemy, concludes his astronomical treatise. They sort of summarize ancient science. There are echoes of her achievements and disappointments in them. One and a half millennia - before Copernicus - they will sound within the walls of medieval universities and be repeated in the works of scientists.
Claudius Ptolemy lived and worked in Alexandria, located at the mouth of the Nile. The city was founded by Alexander the Great. For three centuries, it was the capital of the state, which was ruled by kings from the Ptolemaic dynasty - Alexander's successors. In 30 BC. NS. Egypt was conquered by Rome and became part of the Roman Empire.
Many outstanding scientists of antiquity lived and worked in Alexandria: mathematicians Euclid, Eratosthenes, Apollonius of Perga, astronomers Aristille and Timocharis. In the III century. BC NS. the famous Alexandrian library was founded in the city, where all the main scientific and literary works of that era were collected - about 700 thousand papyrus scrolls. This library was constantly used by Claudius Ptolemy.
He lived in the suburb of Alexandria, Kanopa, devoting himself entirely to the pursuit of science. Astronomer Ptolemy has nothing to do with the Ptolemaic dynasty, he is just their namesake. The exact years of his life are unknown, but from indirect evidence it can be established that he was born, probably around 100 AD. NS. and died about 165, but the exact dates (and even hours) of his astronomical observations, which he conducted for 15 years, from 127 to 141, are known exactly.
Ptolemy set himself a difficult task: to build a theory of the apparent motion in the sky of the Sun, the Moon and the five then known planets. The accuracy of the theory should have made it possible to calculate the positions of these celestial bodies relative to the stars for many years to come, to predict the onset of solar and lunar eclipses.
For this, it was necessary to compile a basis for counting the positions of the planets - a catalog of the positions of fixed stars. Ptolemy had at his disposal such a catalog, compiled two and a half centuries before him by his outstanding predecessor, the ancient Greek astronomer Hipparchus. There were about 850 stars in this catalog.
Ptolemy built special goniometric instruments for observing the positions of stars and planets: astrolabe, armillary sphere, triquetra and some others. With their help, he performed many observations and supplemented the Hipparchus star catalog, bringing the number of stars to 1022.
Using the observations of his predecessors (from the astronomers of Ancient Babylon to Hipparchus), as well as his own observations, Ptolemy built a theory of the motion of the Sun, Moon and planets. In this theory, it was assumed that all the luminaries move around the Earth, which is the center of the universe and has a spherical shape. To explain complex nature motions of the planets, Ptolemy had to introduce a combination of two or more circular motions. In his system of the world around the Earth by
large circle - deferent(from Latin deferens - "carrying") - it is not the planet itself that moves, but the center of some other circle, called epicycle(from the Greek "epi" - "over", "kyklos" - "circle"), and the planet turns along it. In reality, the movement along the epicycle is a reflection of the real movement of the Earth around the Sun. For a more accurate reproduction of the uneven motion of the planets, even smaller epicycles were mounted on the epicycle.
Ptolemy managed to choose such sizes and rotation speeds of all "wheels" of his Universe that the description of planetary motions reached high accuracy. This work required tremendous mathematical intuition and an enormous amount of computation.
He was not entirely satisfied with his theory. The distance from the Earth to the Moon changed greatly (almost twofold) for him, which should have led to conspicuous changes in the angular dimensions of the luminary; strong fluctuations in the brightness of Mars, etc. were not clear either. But neither he, let alone his followers, could offer. All these problems seemed to Ptolemy less evil than the "ridiculous" assumption of the Earth's motion.

All astronomical studies of Ptolemy were summarized by him in a major work, which he called "Megalesyntax" (Large mathematical construction). But the scribes of this work replaced the word “great” with “the greatest” (magiste), and Arab scholars began to call it “Al-Magiste”, hence its later name - “ Almagest". This work was written about AD 150. NS. For 1500 years, this work of Claudius Ptolemy served as the main textbook of astronomy for everything. the scientific world... It was translated from Greek into Syrian, Middle Persian, Arabic, Sanskrit, Latin, and in modern times - into almost all European languages, including Russian.
After the creation of the "Almagest", Ptolemy wrote a small guide to astrology - "Tetrabiblos" (Four Books), and then his second most important work - "Geography". In it, he gave descriptions of all the countries known then and the coordinates (latitude and longitude) of many cities. Ptolemy's "Geography" was also translated into many languages ​​and already in the era of book printing went through more than 40 editions.
Claudius Ptolemy also wrote a monograph on optics and a book on music theory (Harmony). It is clear that he was a very versatile scientist.
"Almagest" and "Geography" are among the most important books created in the entire history of science.

Armillary sphere.

500 years after Aristotle, Claudius Ptolemy wrote: “There are people who assert that nothing prevents us from admitting that ... the Earth rotates on its axis, from west to east, making one revolution a day ... Indeed, nothing For the sake of simplicity, it does not hinder, although this is not the case, to admit it, if we take into account only the visible phenomena. But these people do not realize ... that the Earth, due to its rotation, would have a speed much higher than those that we can observe ...
As a result, all objects that do not rest on the Earth must appear to be making the same movement in the opposite direction; no clouds or other flying or hovering objects will ever be seen moving eastward, as the earth’s movement toward the east will always throw them back ... in the opposite direction. ”

Choosing between a moving and a stationary Earth, Ptolemy, proceeding from the physics of Aristotle, chose a stationary one. For the same reason, he probably adopted the geocentric system of the world.

"I know that I am mortal, I know that my days are numbered; but when I tirelessly and eagerly follow the paths of the luminaries in my thoughts, then I do not touch the Earth with my feet: at the feast of Zeus I enjoy ambrosia, the food of the gods."

(Claudius Ptolemy. "Almagest".)

3. The origin of astronomy and calendars in Egypt in connection with agriculture

The development of agriculture in Ancient Egypt, in conjunction with PERFECT conditions for astronomical observations - constantly clear sky, low latitude, allowing you to see not only the northern, but also a significant part of the southern half of the stellar sphere - all this naturally led to the development of astronomical observations, and then calendars in Egypt. This is how SCIENCE was born, the main engine of human civilization. Agriculture gave rise to astronomy and thus gave the initial impetus to the development of science.

Let us explain our idea in more detail.

Agricultural activity, in contrast to gathering, hunting or cattle breeding, has an ANNUAL cycle. Exactly one year later (on average), the actions of the farmer are repeated. This means that farming is inherently tied to an annual CALENDAR. Let's remember that Russian peasants have always had a lot of CALENDAR signs - on which day to start sowing, on which day to harvest. Depending on the weather, the peasants expected a warm or cold summer, rainy or dry, on a particular calendar day.

The calendar breakdown of the year and calendar signs are extremely important for the farmer. After all, he has to constantly make decisions that depend not on today's, but on FUTURE weather conditions. It is necessary to decide in advance - how much to leave the seeds, where, what and when to plant, when to start harvesting. In fact, this is a task of statistical forecasting, the solution of which is unthinkable in the absence of an annual reckoning of time, that is, without a CALENDAR. Because without a calendar, it is impossible to accumulate the knowledge necessary to create agricultural signs. It hardly takes a long time to prove that successful agricultural activity is impossible without a calendar.

Note further that any calendar has an ASTRONOMIC basis. The calendar month, for example, is based on observations of the changing phases of the moon. The calendar solar year - namely, it is most important for the farmer - was originally based on observations of the stars. Subsequently, with the development of astronomy, the year began to be calculated on the basis of more complex observations of the equinoxes and solstices. However, in any case, all these are purely ASTRONOMIC observations.

The most important event for the Egyptian farmer there was an annual flood of the Nile. Even in ancient times, the Egyptians noticed that there is a connection between the floods of the Nile and the picture of the starry sky. This connection seemed to them mysterious and even divine. In fact, it was a CALENDAR connection, since both the floods of the Nile River and the picture of the starry sky observed at a certain point on the Earth are determined by the numbers of the solar calendar. It is believed that it is this mysterious for ancient man connection, the desire to comprehend it, and served as the first impetus for the development of astronomy and calendars in Ancient Egypt. The Egyptians "noticed that when Sirius rose together with the Sun, then a flood immediately followed, and the farmer could arrange his work according to that ... they tried to find out what connection could be between that Kanikulny constellation and the flooding of the river", p. 30. Thus began ancient astronomy, which was the first science on Earth.

From the ancient beginning of the Egyptian agricultural year, associated with the annual floods of the Nile, there is also the beginning of the old Russian church year on September 1 of the old style (September 14 of the new style). And also - the beginning school year September 1. The September start of the year was naturally determined by the beginning of preparations for the sowing season in Egypt, that is, by the end of the Nile flood. As soon as the Nile water left the fields, sowing began in Egypt. The water began to subside in August-September, therefore the ancient Egyptian year began on September 1. The same beginning of the year is reflected in the Egyptian zodiacs, see our books "New chronology of Egypt" and "Heavenly calendar of the ancients."

Note that it was in Egypt, in Egyptian Alexandria, that the famous Almagest of Ptolemy was originally written, which served until the 16th century AD. NS. the main source of astronomical knowledge around the world. As shown by the independent dating of the Almagest stellar catalog obtained in 1993 by the proper motions of the stars, see [CHRON3], it began to be created in the period from 600 to 1300 AD. NS. That is - SEVERAL CENTURIES LATER than historians think. This dating is fully consistent with other independent astronomical dating of the monuments of Ancient Egypt, see [HRON3], [НХЕ].

In conclusion, we note that astronomy never faded away in Egypt. When in 1799 Napoleonic troops invaded Egypt, which was under the rule of the Mamelukes, the Europeans found that among other traditional arts and crafts of Egypt, ASTRONOMY took its strong place. In fig. 12 we present a drawing from Napoleon's "Description of Egypt", depicting an Egyptian astronomer of the late 18th century. It is significant that the image of the astronomer is placed in the "Description of Egypt" along with the images of farmers, carpenters, bakers, poets, etc., p. 686-741. This suggests that in medieval Mameluk Egypt, astronomy was a fairly common occupation. In fig. 13 shows images of astronomical instruments and blueprints that Europeans discovered in Egypt at the end of the 18th century.

Rice. 12. Egyptian astronomer at the end of the 18th century. Drawing by Napoleonic artists. Taken from, p. 719.

Rice. 13. Astronomical instruments and drawings that were in use in Egypt at the end of the 18th century. Drawing by Napoleonic artists. Taken from, p. 737.

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In Greek science, the opinion was firmly established (with various, of course, variations) that the Earth was like a flat or convex disk surrounded by an ocean. Many Greek thinkers did not abandon this point of view even when, in the era of Plato and Aristotle, the idea of ​​the sphericity of the Earth seemed to prevail. Alas, already in those distant times a progressive idea made its way with great difficulty, demanded sacrifices from its supporters, but, fortunately, then “talent did not seem heresy”, and “no boots were used in arguments”.

The idea of ​​a disc (a drum or even a cylinder) was very convenient for confirming the widespread belief about the middle position of Hellas. It was also quite acceptable for the depiction of land floating in the ocean.

Within the disc-shaped (and later spherical) Earth, an ecumene was distinguished. Which in ancient Greek means the whole inhabited earth, the universe. The designation in one word of two seemingly different concepts (for the Greeks then they seemed one-ordinal) is deeply symptomatic.

In ancient times, the question of whether the earth moves around the sun was simply blasphemous. Both famous scientists and ordinary people, for whom the picture of the sky did not cause much thought, were sincerely convinced that the Earth is motionless and represents the center of the universe. However, modern historians can name at least one ancient scientist who questioned the conventional and tried to develop a theory according to which the Earth moves around the Sun.

Aristarchus wondered what is the distance from the Earth to the celestial bodies, and what are their sizes. Aristarchus went his own way, completely correct from the point of view of modern science. He closely watched the moon and the change in its phases. At the time of the onset of the phase of the first quarter, he measured the angle between the Moon, Earth and the Sun. If this is done accurately enough, then only calculations will remain in the problem. At this moment, the Earth, the Moon and the Sun form a right-angled triangle, and, as is known from geometry, the sum of the angles in it is 180 degrees. In this case, the second acute angle Earth - Sun - Moon (angle ZSL) turns out to be equal.

The emergence of geometry

From the 7th century BC NS. to the 1st century A.D. NS. geometry as a science developed rapidly in ancient Greece. During this period, not only the accumulation of various geometric information took place, but also the technique of proving geometric statements was worked out, and the first attempts were made to formulate the main primary provisions (axioms) of geometry, from which many different geometric statements are derived by purely logical reasoning. The level of development of geometry in Ancient Greece is reflected in the essay of Euclid "Beginnings".

In this book, an attempt was made for the first time to give a systematic construction of planimetry on the basis of basic undefined geometric concepts and axioms (postulates).

A special place in the history of mathematics is occupied by the fifth postulate of Euclid (the axiom of parallel lines). For a long time, mathematicians unsuccessfully tried to deduce the fifth postulate from the rest of Euclid's postulates, and only in the middle of the 19th century, thanks to the research of N.I. Lobachevsky, B. Riemann and J. suggested by Euclid, not the only possible one.

Euclid's "beginnings" had a tremendous impact on the development of mathematics. For more than two thousand years, this book was not only a textbook on geometry, but also served as a starting point for many mathematical studies, as a result of which new independent branches of mathematics arose.

"Astronomy of Ancient Greece"

Plan

I. Introduction

II. Astronomy of the ancient Greeks

1. On the path to truth through knowledge

2. Aristotle and the geocentric system of the world

3. The same Pythagoras

4. The first heliocentrist

5. Works of the Alexandrian astronomers

6. Aristarchus: the perfect method (his true works and successes; the reasoning of an outstanding scientist; great theory - failure as a result);

7. "Phaenomena" of Euclid and the main elements of the celestial sphere

9. Calendar and stars of ancient Greece

III. Conclusion: the role of astronomers in ancient Greece

Introduction

Evaluating the path that humanity has traveled in search of the truth about the Earth, we, willingly or unwillingly, turn to the ancient Greeks. Much originated with them, but through them a lot has come down to us from other peoples. This is how history decreed: scientific ideas and territorial discoveries of the Egyptians, Sumerians and other ancient Eastern peoples were often preserved only in the memory of the Greeks, and from them became known to subsequent generations. A vivid example of this is the detailed news about the Phoenicians who inhabited a narrow strip of the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea and in the II-I millennia BC. NS. discovered Europe and the coastal regions of Northwest Africa. Strabo, a Roman scholar and Greek by birth, wrote in his seventeen-volume Geography: "Until now, the Greeks borrow much from the Egyptian priests and Chaldeans." But Strabo was skeptical of his predecessors, including the Egyptians.

Greek civilization flourished between the 6th century BC. and the middle of the 2nd century BC. NS. Chronologically, it almost coincides with the time of the existence of classical Greece and Hellenism. This time, taking into account several centuries, when the Roman Empire rose, flourished and perished, is called the antique. Its initial boundary is considered to be the 7th-2nd century BC, when the city-states-Greek city-states developed rapidly. This form of government has become a hallmark of the Greek world.

The development of knowledge among the Greeks has no analogues in the history of that time. The scale of the comprehension of sciences can be imagined at least by the fact that in less than three centuries (!) Greek mathematics passed its way - from Pythagoras to Euclid, Greek astronomy - from Thales to Euclid, Greek natural science - from Anaximander to Aristotle and Theophrastus, Greek geography - from Hecateus of Miletus to Eratosthenes and Hipparchus, etc.

The discovery of new lands, land or sea wanderings, military campaigns, overpopulation in fertile regions - all this was often mythologized. In poems with the artistic skill inherent in the Greeks, the mythical coexisted with the real. They set out scientific knowledge, information about the nature of things, as well as geographical data. However, the latter is sometimes difficult to identify with today's ideas. And, nevertheless, they are an indicator of the broad views of the Greeks on the oecumene.

The Greeks paid great attention to the specific geographical knowledge of the Earth. Even during military campaigns, they were not left with the desire to write down everything that they saw in the conquered countries. In the troops of Alexander the Great, even special pedometers were allocated, which counted the distances traveled, made a description of the routes of movement and put them on the map. On the basis of the data they received, Dicaearchus, a student of the famous Aristotle, made a detailed map of the then ecumene according to his idea.

The simplest cartographic drawings were known in primitive society, long before the advent of writing. The rock carvings make it possible to judge this. The first cards appeared in Ancient Egypt. On clay tablets, the contours of individual territories were drawn with the designation of some objects. No later than 1700 BC That is, the Egyptians made a map of the developed two thousand-kilometer part of the Nile.

The Babylonians, Assyrians and other peoples of the Ancient East were also engaged in mapping the area ...

How did the Earth see? What place did they take for themselves on it? What was their idea of ​​the ecumene?

Astronomy of the ancient Greeks

In Greek science, the opinion was firmly established (with various, of course, variations) that the Earth was like a flat or convex disk surrounded by an ocean. Many Greek thinkers did not abandon this point of view even when, in the era of Plato and Aristotle, the idea of ​​the sphericity of the Earth seemed to prevail. Alas, already in those distant times a progressive idea made its way with great difficulty, demanded sacrifices from its supporters, but, fortunately, then “talent did not seem heresy”, and “no boots were used in arguments”.

The idea of ​​a disc (a drum or even a cylinder) was very convenient for confirming the widespread belief about the middle position of Hellas. It was also quite acceptable for the depiction of land floating in the ocean.

Within the disc-shaped (and later spherical) Earth, an ecumene was distinguished. Which in ancient Greek means the whole inhabited earth, the universe. The designation in one word of two seemingly different concepts (for the Greeks then they seemed one-ordinal) is deeply symptomatic.

There is little reliable information about Pythagoras (6th century BC). It is known that he was born on the island of Samos; probably in his youth he visited Miletus, where he studied with Anaximander; maybe he made more distant journeys. Already in adulthood, the philosopher moved to the city of Croton and founded there something like a religious oden - the Pythagorean brotherhood, which extended its influence to many Greek cities in southern Italy. The life of the brotherhood was surrounded by mystery. There were legends about its founder Pythagoras, which, apparently, had some basis under themselves: the great scientist was no less a great politician and seer.

The basis of the teachings of Pythagoras was the belief in the transmigration of souls and the harmonious structure of the world. He believed that the soul was purified by music and mental labor, therefore the Pythagoreans considered perfection in the “four arts” - arithmetic, music, geometry and astronomy - to be impeded. Pythagoras himself is the founder of number theory, and the theorem he proved is known to every schoolchild today. And if Anaxagoras and Democritus in their views on the world developed Anaximander's idea of ​​the physical causes of natural phenomena, then Pythagoras shared his conviction in the mathematical harmony of the cosmos.

The Pythagoreans ruled the Greek cities of Italy for several decades, then they were defeated and withdrew from politics. However, much of what Pythagoras breathed into them remained alive and had a huge impact on science. Now it is very difficult to separate the contribution of Pythagoras himself from the achievements of his followers. This applies especially to astronomy, in which several fundamentally new ideas were put forward. About them can be judged by the scanty information that has come down to us about the ideas of the late Pythagoreans and the teachings of philosophers who were influenced by the ideas of Pythagoras.

Aristotle and the first scientific picture of the world

Aristotle was born in the Macedonian city of Stagira into the family of a court physician. At the age of seventeen he went to Athens, where he became a student of the Academy founded by the philosopher Plato.

At first, the system of Plato attracted Aristotle, but gradually he came to the conclusion that the views of the teacher lead away from the truth. And then Aristotle left the Academy, throwing the famous phrase: "Plato is my friend, but the truth is dearer." Emperor Philip the Great invites Aristotle to become the tutor of the heir to the throne. The philosopher agrees, and for three years he has been close to the future founder of the great empire, Alexander the Great. At sixteen, his disciple led the army of his father and, having defeated the Thebans in his first battle at Chaeronea, went on campaigns.

Again Aristotle moved to Athens, and in one of the districts called Lyceum, he opened a school. He writes a lot. His writings are so varied that it is difficult to imagine Aristotle as a lonely thinker. Most likely, during these years he acted as the head of a large school, where students worked under his leadership, just as today graduate students develop topics that are offered to them by the leaders.

The Greek philosopher paid much attention to questions of the structure of the world. Aristotle was convinced that the center of the universe was certainly the earth.

Aristotle tried to explain everything by reasons that are close to the common sense of the observer. So, observing the moon, he noticed that in different phases it exactly corresponds to the form that would take a ball, on the one hand, illuminated by the sun. Equally strict and logical was his proof of the sphericity of the Earth. Having discussed all the possible reasons for the eclipse of the moon, Aristotle comes to the conclusion that the shadow on its surface can only belong to the Earth. And since the shadow is round, then the body casting it must have the same shape. But Aristotle is not limited to them. “Why,” he asks, “when we move north or south, do the constellations change their positions relative to the horizon?” And then he answers: "Because the Earth has a curvature." Indeed, if the Earth were flat, wherever the observer was, the same constellations would shine above his head. It is quite another matter - on a round Earth. Here, each observer has his own horizon, his own horizon, his own sky ... However, recognizing the sphericity of the Earth, Aristotle categorically spoke out against the possibility of its revolution around the Sun. “Be it so,” he reasoned, “it would seem to us that the stars are not motionless on the celestial sphere, but describe circles ...” This was a serious objection, perhaps the most serious one, which was removed only many, many centuries later, in the 19th century.

Much has been written about Aristotle. The authority of this philosopher is incredibly high. And it is well deserved. Because, despite the rather numerous errors and delusions, in his writings Aristotle collected everything that reason achieved during the period of ancient civilization. His works are a real encyclopedia of contemporary science.