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Concept
Ancient Greek astronomy
Summary
Ancient Greek astronomy is the astronomy written in the Greek language during classical antiquity. Greek astronomy is understood to include the Ancient Greek, Hellenistic, Greco-Roman, and late antique eras. It is not limited geographically to Greece or to ethnic Greeks, as the Greek language had become the language of scholarship throughout the Hellenistic world following the conquests of Alexander. This phase of Greek astronomy is also known as Hellenistic astronomy, while the pre-Hellenistic phase is known as Classical Greek astronomy. During the Hellenistic and Roman periods, many of the Greek and non-Greek astronomers working in the Greek tradition studied at the Museum and the Library of Alexandria in Ptolemaic Egypt.
The development of astronomy by the Greek and notably Hellenistic astronomers is considered to be a major phase in the history of astronomy. Greek astronomy is characterized by seeking a geometrical model for celestial phenomena. Most of the names of the stars, planets, and constellations of the northern hemisphere are inherited from the terminology of Greek astronomy, which are however indeed derived from the empirical knowledge in Babylonian astronomy, characterized by its theoretical model formulation in terms of algebraic and numerical relations, and to a lesser extent from Egyptian astronomy. In later periods, ancient Greek astronomical works were translated and promulgated in other languages, most notably in Arabic by the astronomers and mathematicians within the various Arab-Muslim empires of the Middle Ages. This is the sole route by which many ancient Greek astronomical works survived and in turn went on to influence later Indian and European astronomy.
Both Hesiod and Homer were directly and deeply influenced by the mythologies of Phoenicia and Mesopotamia, thanks to Phoenician sailors and literate Babylonians and Arameans, who went to Lefkandi in Greece during the Orientalizing Period, between c. 750 BCE and c. 630 BCE for maritime commerce and to live and work.
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