Astronomy, Weather, and Calendars in the Ancient World

Download or read book Astronomy, Weather, and Calendars in the Ancient World written by Daryn Lehoux and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012-07-19 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The focus of this book is the interplay between ancient astronomy, meteorology, physics and calendrics. It looks at a set of popular instruments and texts (parapegmata) used in antiquity for astronomical weather prediction and the regulation of day-to-day life. Farmers, doctors, sailors and others needed to know when the heavens were conducive to various activities, and they developed a set of fairly sophisticated tools and texts for tracking temporal, astronomical and weather cycles. Sources are presented in full, with an accompanying translation. A comprehensive analysis explores questions such as: What methodologies were used in developing the science of astrometeorology? What kinds of instruments were employed and how did these change over time? How was the material collected and passed on? How did practices and theories differ in the different cultural contexts of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece and Rome?