We can only guess how the Egyptians worked out the observations. They may have used equal altitudes of the Sun, marked their directions and bisected the angle. Possibly they employed the equal altitudes of stars, or bisected the extreme angles of the pole star. Since any definite knowledge of them begins with pyramid inscriptions and since they had worked out… (more…)
Tag Archives: romans
In antiquity, sand glasses were much less important than water clocks
In antiquity, sand glasses were much less important than water clocks, but their influence lasted longer. The middle ages took them, as the Greeks had taken the water clock–to time the length of speeches. Even in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries they were to be found in every church. When the minister started preaching the clock was started, and when… (more…)
Rome had no method of reckoning time other than by sunrise, noon and sunset
Rome, alone among the ancient nations, had no method of reckoning time other than by sunrise, noon and sunset, until the fifth century after the Foundation of the City. Then, as the influence of Greece began to be felt among the more cultured Roman society, a sundial was imported from their Grecian neighbors in Sicily, and erected on a column… (more…)
The Sun’s passage through the equinox was invented by the Chinese
The festivals are dependent upon agriculture; but agriculture and astronomy were interwoven from the very beginning, not only in legend and mythology, but for very precise practical purposes. The very word “season” means “to sow” and spring was considered the season, par excellence. In most calendars the year commenced at the moment when the Sun crossed the equator, northward bound;… (more…)
- Important events in astronomical history
- 24 Hours is a Clumsy Mode of Expression
- 50 Years of Listening for Aliens
- A Slightly Inaccurate Calculation
- Astronomers in the Middle Ages
- Babylonian Astrology
- Big Clue to Stonehenge
- China UFO sparks rampant speculation
- Chinese Science and the Equinox
- Dissapearance of Water Clocks
- Early Studies in the Nature of lLight
- Greek Gods of the Sun
- Ingenuity and Scientific Care in Egyptian Construction
- Local Mean Time of the Observation and GMT
- Monotheism in the Valley of the Nile
- Moon Complicated Everything
- Noon and Sunset
- Polar Auroras or Dance of the Spirits
- Sand Glasses Vs. Water Clocks
- Seasonal Change from Summer to Winter
- Space and Galaxies
- Sun's Changing Declination
- The Astronomy in Babylonia
- The Belt Known as the Zodiac
- The Chinese Observed Sunspots in Ancient Tmes
- The Ecliptic is the Path of the Sun
- The End of Twilight
- The Evening and the Morning
- The First Great Division of Time
- The Little "Rings with Wings"
- The Moon Goddesses
- The Moon is Irregular
- The Moon is Linked with the Superstitions
- The Sight of Earthshine
- The Sun was Worshiped as a God
- The Time Has Come…
- The Wrath of Heaven
- Thousands flock to see asteroid pod in Japan
- Time Appears to Be Neglected
- Time Reckoning Methods in Rome
- Universe and Secrets
- We Have Babylon…
- What is the Sun Declination?
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