What Am I Looking At – Part I

“The Ancients”

     by Aaron Clevenson

 

This is the first in a series of interviews with famous astronomers of the ages.  Our ultimate goal is to trace our understandings of the physical universe.  This month we are going to talk to a panel of ancient astronomers from across the world.  Unfortunately, their names have been lost to antiquity, but their knowledge has been preserved.

 

NORTHSTAR:  Thank you all for joining me today, and taking time out of your busy planting season.  Could one of you please tell me what I am seeing when I look up in the sky at night?

EGYPTIAN ASTRONOMER:  What you see in the sky, day or night, is a great tent stretched between the mountains in the four corners of the earth. The stars and the sun are on this canopy just above the earth.

SUMERIAN ASTRONOMER:  In fact the stars and planets swim back to the East by way of a great underground river.

GREEK ASTRONOMER:  Yes, the stars and the sun are quite close.  In fact the sun is so close that when Icarus flew on his manufactured wings, about the time he reached 1000 feet, the sun melted the wax and he plummeted into the sea.

NORTHSTAR:  Why do you study the sky?  What use it to you in your daily lives?

GREEK ASTRONOMER:  For us, the sky is a great tool for navigation.  The positions of the stars tell us the latitude at which we are sailing.  Without this we might never find our way home.

SUMARIAN ASTRONOMER:  For us the sky provides a calendar.  It tells us when to plant our crops and when to reap our harvest.  When Orion rises it is time to winnow our grain, and when Orion and the Dog Star (Sirius) move to mid-sky, it is time to harvest our grapes.  When Orion sets it is time to plough our fields for the coming cycle.

NATIVE AMERICAN ASTONOMER:  We watch the sky to tell us when it is time to go to the mountains to collect herbs and plants.  It also tells us when certain animals will be migrating through our area.

MAYAN ASTRONOMER:  For us, knowledge of the sky is a very important tool to our priests, of which I am one.  Our knowledge of the cycles of the heavens enables us to predict events and helps us control our people.

NORTHSTAR:  How has your study of the sky manifested itself in your culture and daily lives?

EGYPTIAN ASTRONOMER:  Our most significant monument to the sky is the Great Pyramid at Giza.  It is aligned to the Pole Star, and its shadow helps us predict the seasons.

CELTIC ASTRONOMER:  I am sure that you have heard of our Stonehenge.  This is our greatest achievement.  It is a great clock.  Through the movement of the heavens we are able to keep accurate track of time.

MAYAN ASTRONOMER:  We have inscribed stones with our calculations for upcoming solar eclipses and the movements of Venus.

NATIVE AMERICAN ASTRONOMER:  We too have tools to keep track of the seasons with the stars.  We have great medicine wheels that track the rising of the brighter stars.  They tell us when it is time for us to move to our seasonal grazing lands.

NORTHSTAR:  Thank you all for your time and for sharing your knowledge of the sky.