Expert: Maria - 6/30/2007

Question
Hi
I would like to know how was born astronomy in Greek civilization and which are the great schools (trends of thoughts) that were important for it ?
Which were the planets in Antiquity, China and India not included ?   
At the end of the Hellenistic time with which measuring tool considered as the previous computer thanks to his mechanism was it possible to localize and predict the motion of the stars ?

Thank you very much for your help

Answer
Hello,

We can say that astronomy was born  in ancient Greek civilization in the 6th.century BC when Thales of Miletus (born in about 624 BC– died in about 546 BC) predicted an eclipse of the sun which really occurred on 28 May 585 BC as we read in Herodotus,"The Histories", book I, chapter 74.
Though we don’t know how Thales was able to foretell the eclipse, it’s clear that he had a great astronomical  knowledge.
We know also that he founded the “Milesian school” of natural philosophy and  developed the scientific method.

In short his approach to the understanding of heavenly phenomena was the beginning of Greek astronomy, so that it was possible to explain  some cosmological events which traditionally involved supernatural entities.

The Greeks benefited of course from their scientific knowledge  of geometry which helped them in this area.

As for the planets in Antiquity, see at: http://www.answers.com/topic/greek-astronomy

Finally with regard to the last question, please note that astronomy  is NOT my field of expertise at all (view my profile).

So you should look for an expert in that area.
Good luck!
Maria
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Herodotus (ca. 484 B.C.-ca. 425 B.C.)is considered "The Father of History" as he was the first Greek writer who wrote a broad historical narrative that has survived the passage of time.