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The First Scientific Instruments
... My presentation of the analemma seeks to simplify a complex situation, and to express it in modern terms, in the interests of emphasising the interconnectedness between the designs of the spherical and conical sundial types. 12 This matches examples in Gibbs 1979, but there appears to be no mathematical underlying principle: perhaps it depended on external factors, such as the size of the block of stone or the desired sculptural form of the sundial (cf. 16 below, in the main text, for a possible internal geometrical principle). ...
... 16 below, in the main text, for a possible internal geometrical principle). 13 This disproportion matches all but one example in Gibbs 1979. 14 Gibbs, 1976Schaldach 1998: 40. ...
Time in Antiquity explores the different perceptions of time from Classical antiquity, principally through the technology designed to measure, mark or tell time. The material discussed ranges from the sixth century BC in archaic Greece to the 3rd century AD in the Roman Empire, and offers fascinating insights into ordinary people's perceptions of time and time-keeping instruments.
Examining the instruments of timekeeping provides a gateway into the ancient mentalité about time. This trend is worth pursuing, as it is the instruments themselves that most likely can tell what ordinary people thought on a daily basis about time. Antikythera Mechanism was originally identified as a "calendar computer," and it has often subsequently been misinterpreted as a navigational aid, simply because it was recovered from a shipwreck. Parapegmata were associated with forecasting, although of weather rather than other events. The earliest surviving Greek sundial is reported. The major timekeeping mechanism in the classical world, the water clock, initially did not rely on emulating the motions of celestial bodies. So while future studies will undoubtedly continue the present trend of discussing ancient artifacts from a sociological perspective, there is room still for the basic scientific, analytical description of those very same objects.
Some ancient Greek philosophers and thinkers questioned the geocentric system and proposed instead a heliocentric system. The main proponents of this view - which was seen as heretical at the time - are believed to have been the Pythagoreans Philolaos, Heraclides, Hicetas, and Ecphantos, but mainly Aristarchos of Samos, who placed the Sun in the position of the "central fire" of the Pythagoreans. The geocentric system, reworked by Claudius Ptolemaeus (Ptolemy), was the dominant one for centuries, and it was only during the sixteenth century that the Polish monk-astronomer, Copernicus, revisited the ancient Greek heliocentric views and became the new champion of the theory that we all accept today.
In this work, four ancient monuments of astronomical significance found in Athens and still kept in the same city in good condition are presented. The first one is the conical sundial on the southern slope of the Acropolis. The second one is the Tower of the Winds and its vertical sundials in the Roman Forum of Athens, a small octagonal marble tower with sundials on all 8 of its sides, plus a water-clock inside the tower. The third monument-instrument is the ancient clepsydra of Athens, one of the findings from the Ancient Agora of Athens, a unique water-clock dated from 400 B.C. Finally, the fourth one is the carved ancient Athenian calendar over the main entrance of the small Byzantine temple of the 8th Century, St. Eleftherios, located to the south of the temple of the Annunciation of Virgin Mary, the modern Cathedral of the city of Athens.
The oldest astronomical instrument is the naked eye, with which the courses of the celestial objects were observed. Since time immemorial, people have noticed that the celestial
bodies rise at the eastern horizon and set at the western horizon. They have also noticed that some stars never set and that
all stars circle around a fixed point in the northern sky (at least on the northern hemisphere, where the oldest civilizations
were. See Fig. 2.1). Already in ancient times, this point was conceived of as the end of the celestial axis. More on the celestial
axis in Chap. 5.
An examination is made of old and new navigation technology that considers most factors affecting this technology, including cost, accuracy, autonomy, time-delay, global coverage, and the human interface. The author reviews cartography and the navigation of land, ship, air, and space vehicles, concluding with a forecast of navigation in the twenty-first century. An extensive annotated bibliography is included.< >
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