The technology that will be analysed for this task is equipment used for astronomy in the ancient world, it will be more a general topic and focus more overall on their astronomy rather than just one piece of technology used, also a lot of the technology isn’t necessarily machines. They created a lot of models of the earth and space which helped them with their observations and discoveries. The 2 cultures I will be comparing this technology between are the Greeks and the Romans. The reason I have chosen astronomy equipment as my ancient technology is because although it may not be as recognised as many other ancient technologies or advancements, but astronomy and astronomical equipment and technology played a critical part in understanding our world and universe which lead to many advancements in astronomy and science itself.
I believe that the ancient Greeks had superior astronomical technology and were overall better and more advanced in the field of astronomy compared to the Romans.
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What is technology? Technology is (the study and knowledge of) the practical, especially industrial, use of scientific discoveries. As defined by the Cambridge English Dictionary. Most people think of technology in a modern sense but in reality, technology has been around for thousands of years all the way back to ancient time in the form of things like immigration and machines to weapons and combat tactics. The technology that will be discussed in this task will be astronomy which will be compared and analysed in the ancient civilisations of Greece and Rome.
For the Greeks, astronomy was definitely one of their strong suits. At this point in time around the world the main kind of astronomy was observational astronomy. Greece took a leap ahead of other civilisations ins this area by attempting to construct a model of the universe which would be accountable for observations. With this model they investigated every single believable option, they considered a wide range of answers for the different cosmic issues they ran over. They foresee numerous thoughts of present-day cosmology as well as a portion of their thoughts suffered for around two centuries. Pythagoras is attributed as the main Greek to think the earth round, yet this thought was most likely established on spiritualist reasons instead of logical.
The Pythagoreans discovered decisive proof for a round earth after it was found that the moon sparkles by reflecting light, and the correct clarification for obscuration’s was found. The world's shadow on the moon's surface proposed that the state of our planet was round. The most talented and respected Greek astronomer in ancient history, Hipparchus of Nicea had achieved so much during his time and possibly played one of the largest roles in ancient Greek astronomy. Hipparchus successfully determined the length of the lunar month with a blunder of short of what one second and evaluated the sun powered year with a mistake of six minutes. He made an index of the sky giving the places of 1080 stars by expressing their exact divine scope and longitude. One of the most important pieces of technology was Ptolemy’s Almagest. The Almagest is an enormous work on stargazing. It contains geometrical models connected to tables by which the developments of the heavenly bodies could be determined inconclusively. All Greco-Babylonian cosmic accomplishments are condensed in this work. It incorporates an index containing more than 1,000 fixed stars. The cosmology of the Almagest would overwhelm western space science for the 14 centuries to come. In spite of the fact that not flawless, it had adequate precision to stay acknowledged until the Renaissance.
Ancient Rome also made large contributions to the world of ancient astronomy, Roman astronomy helped individuals acknowledge and comprehend thoughts regarding the universe. And possibly the most famous astronomer in history was technically a Roman, Ptolemy. Ptolemy was of Greek descent however he lived in the Roman province of Egypt and during his time he had mapped out over 1000 stars, he also studied and learnt about planets and stars and how they move. Due to Ptolemy mapping out so many stars it became much easier for people to give directions and make maps which inevitably gave the Romans a greater knowledge of the world around them.
Possibly the best-known manifestation of ancient Roman astronomy is the Julian calendar. The Julian calendar originally proposed by the great Julius Caesar evolved from the beginning of what was a basic sequence of indigenous festivals in relation to the seasonal year for farmers, then turned out to be progressively formalized as Roman culture turned out to be progressively urbanized. From the outset the municipal schedule depended on the stage cycles of the moon, however it confronted progressively major issues in escaping step with the occasional year in light of political obstruction during the time spent intercalation. This finished in 45 B.C.E. in the change from a lunar to a sun-oriented schedule, partitioning the year into 'a year' that were in certainty totally free of the moon. Although Roman astronomy played. Quite a big role in astronomy in ancient history, there was really no incredible advancements in philosophical cosmology or scientific space science rise in the Roman world or at least not ones that are well known by modern historians. Roman astronomy, it appears, was increasingly practical in nature, frequently personally bound up with prognostication and astrology.
After thorough study and research, it has become conclusive that the Greeks were in fact predominant in the province of ancient astronomy over the Romans. This was due to a few factors, firstly the Greeks had superior technology during their respective era’s which lead them to having a greater understanding of the earth and our universe. Thus, confirming my hypothesis was correct which stated, “I believe that the ancient Greeks had superior astronomical technology and were overall better and more advanced in the field of astronomy compared to the Romans.”
Bibliography
- Ancient Greek Astronomy and Cosmology | Modeling the Cosmos | Articles and Essays | Finding Our Place in the Cosmos: From Galileo to Sagan and Beyond | Digital Collections | Library of Congress. Retrieved 15 October 2019, from https://www.loc.gov/collections/finding-our-place-in-the-cosmos-with-carl-sagan/articles-and-essays/modeling-the-cosmos/ancient-greek-astronomy-and-cosmology
- N, A. (2013). Roman Astronomy and Astrology. Retrieved 15 October 2019, from http://what-when-how.com/ancient-astronomy/roman-astronomy-and-astrology/
- N, A. (2016). Ancient Roman Astronomy. Retrieved 15 October 2019, from https://ancientromancontribution.weebly.com/ancient-roman-astronomy.html
- Violatti, C., & Violatti, C. (2013). Greek Astronomy. Ancient History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 15 October 2019, from https://www.ancient.eu/Greek_Astronomy/
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