Why read Astronomy of the Ancients?

Book cover of Astronomy of the Ancients

Book description

The eight articles and dozens of photographs and drawings in this book introduce the reader to the ancient astronomers―their observatories, their instruments, and their explorations of the awesome regularities (and shocking irregularities) that appear in the sky. The authors draw upon a wide range of disciplines―history, archaeology, technology, even mythology…

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Topics

Atlantis

Genres

Science

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Why read it?

1 author picked Astronomy of the Ancients as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

John M. Saul

Author

Among the several fine essays here, Harald Reiche's "The Language of Archaic Astronomy: a Clue to the Atlantis Myth?" is a bonus treat. Reiche introduces the technological language of ancient mythology – the "tech talk of our ancestors" – and explains how "stories," recounted in the language of myth, track the "damage" to the heavens caused by the Precession of the Equinoxes. This easy-reading collection is a great aid for those with little inclination to study the heavens through light-polluted skies, or to plunge into the troublesome field of comparative mythology.

From John's list on The best books on the origins of humanity's earliest beliefs and their spread into modern times.