Ptolemaic system - Ptolemaic system The Ptolemaic system was a system to explain the motions of the heavens, espoused by Claudius Ptolemaeus in Almagest sometime around the 2nd century, C.E., and accepted for over a thousand years by the vast majority of people to be the correct cosmological model. It may be also called the Geocentric model. Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide") 1 The Almagest 2 Geocentricity 3 Problems with geocentricity 4 Replacement with Copernican system The Almagest An Epitome of the Almagest (Epitome in Ptolemaei Almagestum) was written between 1460 and 1463 by the Austrian astronomer Georg Peurbach and his famous pupil Johannes Regiomontanus at the suggestion of Cardinal Bessarion. It gave Europeans the first sophisticated understanding of Ptolemy's astronomy, and was studied by every competent astronomer of the.
Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems - the Two Chief World Systems was Galileo's comparison of the Copernican system, in which the Earth and other planets orbit the Sun, with the traditional Ptolemaic system, in which everything in the Universe circles around the Earth. The book was published in Florence in 1632 under a formal license from the Inquisition. In 1633 Galileo was convicted of "grave suspicion of heresy" based on the book, which was then placed on the Index of forbidden books, from which it was not removed until 1822. In an action that was not announced at the time, the publication of anything else he had written or ever might write was also banned. While writing the book, Galileo referred to it as his Dialogue on the Tides; and this was its title when the manuscript.
Chronological systems of Babylonia and Assyria - latest discoveries in this branch of research, and of the manner in Which they affect the problems at issue. It will be convenient to begin with the later historical periods, and then to push our inquiry into the earlier periods of Babylonian and Sumerian history. Up to certain points no difference of opinion exists upon the dates to be assigned to the later kings who ruled in Babylon and in Assyria. The Ptolemaic Canon gives a list of the Babylonian, Assyrian and Persian kings who ruled, in Babylon, together with the number of years each of them reigned, from the accession of Nabonassar in 747 BC to the conquest of Babylon by Alexander the Great in 331 BC. The accuracy of this list is confirmed by the larger List of Kings.
Heliocentrism - is the belief that the sun is the center of the universe; as opposed to the Ptolemaic system, according to which Earth is at the center of the universe. It recognizes that the planets are orbiting Sol, but later it was discovered that the sun is just a star in the Milky Way, and that the latter is just one of the galaxies in the universe. Heliocentric comes from the Greek, "Helios", for Sun. The heliocentric model of the solar system, in which it is argued that Earth orbits Sol, was first proposed by Aristarchus (c.270 BC). The theory is often credited to Copernicus. This theory solved the issue of planetary retrograde motion (with respect to the celestial sphere), by arguing that such motion was only perceived and apparent; rather than.
History of Libya - three great cities (tri + polis) of Oea, Sabrata and Leptis Magna (site of magnificent Roman ruins). Carthage and its dependencies fell to Rome after the Third Punic War. Tripoli is the ancient sea port at the terminus of three great caravan routes linking the coast with Lake Chad and Timbuktu across the Sahara. Near the port of Tripoli stands a Roman triumphal arch with four richly sculpured fronts of white marble, the blocks being held together with cramps. It was begun in the reign of the emperor Antoninus Pius, according to a still-unmutilated dedicatory inscription, and finished under Marcus Aurelius. In ancient times, the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, the armies of Alexander the Great and his Ptolemaic successors from Egypt, then Romans, Vandals, and local representatives of the Byzantine Empire ruled.
History of astronomy - and religious functionss. Calendars of the world have usually been set by the Sun and Moon (measuring the day, month and year), and were of importance to agricultural societies, in which the harvest depended on planting at the correct time of year. The most common modern calendar is based on the Roman calendar, which divided the year into twelve months of alternating thirty and thirty-one days apiece. Various Roman emperors altered the calendar subsequently. Julius Caesar instigated calendar reform and created the leap year. Greeks made some important contributions to astronomy, but the progress almost stopped during the middle ages, except for the work of some Arabic astronomers. The renaissance came to astronomy with the work of Copernicus, who proposed a heliocentric system. His work was defended, expanded upon and corrected.
History of Greek and Roman Egypt - rule by the Macedonian Ptolemies, Egypt was incorporated into the Roman Empire in 30 BC, and was ruled first from Rome and then from Constantinople until the Arab conquest in AD 639. Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide") 1 Ptolemaic Egypt 1.1 Ptolemy I 1.2 Ptolemy II 1.3 Ptolemy III 1.4 The decline of the Ptolemies 1.5 The later Ptolemies 2 Roman Egypt 2.6 Roman rule in Egypt 2.7 Christian Egypt 2.8 Byzantine Egypt 3 Related articles 4 Reference Ptolemaic Egypt In 332 BC Alexander the Great, King of Macedon, conquered Egypt, with little resistance from the Persians. He was welcomed by the Egyptians as a deliverer. He visited Memphis, and went on pilgrimage to the oracle of Amun at the Oasis of Siwa. The oracle had the good sense to declare him.
Galileo Galilei - up to about 20x. He published his initial telescopic observations in March 1610 in a short treatise entitled Sidereus Nuncius (Sidereal Messenger). Galileo Galilei’s discovery of the moons of Jupiter. This is a manuscript page, in Italian, on which Galileo first noted an observation of the moons; a full description of them appeared in Sidereus Nuncius in March 1610. For a translation from Sidereus Nuncius click on the picture. In 1610 Galileo discovered Jupiter's four largest satellitess (moons): Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. He determined that these moons were orbiting the planet since they would occasionally disappear; something he attributed to their movement behind Jupiter. He made additional observations of them in 1620. (Later astronomers overruled Galileo's naming of these objects, changing his Medicean stars to Galilean satellites.) The demonstration that.
Egyptian mythology - varied considerably over time, so an article or, indeed, even one whole book, cannot do more than outline the many entities and subjects in this complex system of beliefs. Egyptian Mythology is different from Greek or Roman Mythology, in that in Egyptian Mythology most deities are of human body and animal head or vice versa. Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide") 1 The Articles 2 Worship 2.1 Temples 3 The World 3.2 Creation 3.3 Heaven and earth 3.4 The Nile 4 The Afterlife 4.5 Egyptian embalming 4.6 Burial 4.7 The book of the dead 4.8 The weighing of the heart 5 External influences 5.9 Libyan period 5.10 Ptolemaic period 5.11 Roman period 6 The coming of monotheism The Articles Adim Aker Akh Amathaunta Ament Ammut Andjety Anget Ankt Anti Anubis Ap-uat Aten As.
Eratosthenes - geographer and astronomer with (probably) Chaldean origins. He was born in Cyrene (now Shahhat, Libya) and he died in Ptolemaic Alexandria. He is noted for devising a system of latitude and longitude and computing the size of Earth. Eratosthenes studied at Alexandria and some years in Athens. In 236 BC he was appointed by Ptolemy III Euergetes I as a head and the third librarian of the Alexandrian library. He made several important contributions to mathematics and science. He was a good friend to Archimedes. Circa 255 BC he invented the armillary sphere, which was used till 17th century. He believed the Earth was a sphere and circa 240 BC he calculated its circumference, using trigonometry and information on the altitude of the Sun at noon in Alexandria and Syene (now.
Deferent and epicycle - Deferent and epicycle An epicycle is a term from the Ptolemaic system of astronomy. The epicycle was designed by Apollonius of Perga at the end of the 3rd century BC as a geometric model to explain the variations in speed and direction of the apparent motion of the Moon, Sun, and planets. In particular it explained retrograde motion. In the Ptolemaic system, the planets are assumed to move in a small circle, called an epicycle, which in turn moves along a larger circle called a deferent. Both circles rotate counterclockwise and are roughly parallel to the Earth's plane of orbit (ecliptic). The deferent would be considered to be centered on the Earth (as the planet was believed to be in orbit around Earth... see: geocentric universe). As viewed from Earth,.
Alfonso X of Castile - Spanish kings of the Middle Ages. He was a writer, and he had considerable scientific fame, based mainly on his encouragement of astronomy and the Ptolemaic cosmogony as known to him through the Arabs. The Alphonsus crater on the Moon is named after him. He established at Toledo a translation school that did a great work in bringing the knowledge of the Arabs and Jews into Christian Europe. Much of it was based on Classical philosophy. As a ruler he showed legislative capacity, and a very commendable wish to provide his kingdoms with a code of laws and a consistent judicial system. The Fuero Real was undoubtedly his work, and he began the code called the Siete Partidas, which, however, was only promulgated by his great-grandson. He lacked the singleness of.
Caesarion - was the son of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra VII of Egypt and the last Pharaoh of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt. Cleopatra and Caesarion He was nominated co-ruler by his mother on September 2, 44 BC at the age of three. Although he was probably king in name only with Cleopatra keeping actual authority to herself, he was intended by her to be the successor of his father. When Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus invaded Egypt in 30 BC, Cleopatra tried to send Caesarion to India for safety, but the Romans intercepted and captured him. His mother's consort Marcus Antonius committed suicide prior to Octavian's entry in Alexandria. Octavian captured the city on August 1, 30 BC which marks the official annexation of Egypt to the Roman Republic. Caesarion's mother followed Antonius.
Scientific mythology - the dramatic, tends to understate the incremental progress that consitutes most scientific advancement. Also in the effort to create a dramatic story, scientific myths tend to reduce theory verification to one dramatic experiment which is claimed to prove a theory (for example, the Michelson-Morley experiment). This leads to the misperception that scientific theories are fragile in that they are based on a few crucial facts, when in fact most scientific theories are robust in that they are based on many independent lines of evidence and can withstand cases in which some interpretations of data later turn out to be incorrect. A listing of some major myths of science Some of the stories told about science and scientific discovery are: Isaac Newton's apple Galileo Galilei's cannonballs off the leaning tower of Pisa,.
Scientific Revolution - developments, but even more importantly, the way in which scientists worked was radically changed. At the beginning of the century, science was highly Aristotelian; at its end, science was mathematical, mechanical and empirical. In fact, according to the modern definition of the term science, true science itself did not exist until about the 19th century. Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide") 1 Theoretical developments 2 Experimental developments 3 Methodological developments 3.1 Mechanisation 3.2 Mathematisation 3.3 Empiricism 4 Literary criticisms 5 References 5.4 Science 5.5 History 5.6 Literary criticism Theoretical developments In 1543 Copernicus' work on the Heliocentric model of the solar system was published, in which he tried to prove that the sun was the centre of the universe. For almost two millennia, the Geocentric model had been accepted by all but a.
Weights and measures - versus pound). Enormous amounts of effort, time and money were wasted. Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide") 1 History of Weights and Measures 2 Origins of common customary units 2.1 Units of length 2.2 Typographical units 2.3 Units of mass 2.4 Units of time and angle 3 Origin of the metric system 4 International System of Units 4.5 Units and Standards of the Metric System 5 See also History of Weights and Measures Weights and measures were among the earliest tools invented by humans. Primitive societies needed rudimentary measures for many tasks: constructing dwellings of an appropriate size and shape, fashioning clothing, or bartering food or raw materials. The earliest weights and measures were based on the use of parts of the body and the natural surroundings as measuring instruments. Early Babylonian and.
Pah-Peh-Rheo - historically this would be Cleopatra III of Egypt (lived c. 160 - 101 BC, reigned as junior co-regent 141 - 116 BC, and as senior co-regent 116 - 101 BC). Her parents Ptolemy VI of Egypt and Cleopatra II of Egypt were siblings. The only way Pah-Peh-Rheo could be the Queen's non-royal uncle would be if he was an illegitimate son of her grandfather Ptolemy V of Egypt or her grandmother Cleopatra I of Egypt. In this case he would be a member of minor importance to the Ptolemaic dynasty. Royal Treasurer He supposedly served his niece as a royal treasurer. Concerned about the safety of the royal treasury he decided to create a secure hiding place for it. For this purpose he hired Archimede Pitagorico, a mechanic from Syracuse, Sicily..
Ptolemy - Ptolemy The Ptolemaic dynasty, of Macedonian origin, ruled Egypt as pharaohs from 323 B.C, when Ptolemy, one of Alexander the Great's generals, took over Egyptian rule. The dynasty lasted until the death of the most famous member of the family, Cleopatra VII, in 31 B.C, shortly after the Battle of Actium. Egypt was then annexed to Rome. Claudius Ptolemaeus (Greek: Klaudios Ptolemaios; A.D. circa 85 - circa 165), known in English as Ptolemy, was a Greek astronomer who probably lived and worked in Alexandria in Egypt. Ptolemy was the author of the astronomical treatise which is now known as the Almagest (in Greek Hè Megalè Syntaxis, "The Great Treatise"). It was preserved, like most of Classical Greek science, in Arabic manuscripts (hence its familiar name) and only.
Pyrrhus of Epirus - states, Pyrrhus was dethroned at the age of 17 when he left his Kingdom to attend a wedding. A clever and vigorous mind, he soon recaptured his Kingdom with the help of the Ptolemaic kings of Egypt. By 286 he had as well deposed his former brother-in-law and took control over the Kingdom of Macedonia, which he as quickly lost. In 281 the Greek city of Tarentum fell out with Rome, and was faced with a Roman attack and certain defeat. Rome had already made itself into a major power, and poised to subdue all the Greek cities in Magna Graeca or Southern Italy. The Tarentines begged Pyrrhus to intervene and save them from Roman conquest. Pyrrhus was encouraged to aid the Tarentines by an oracle from Delphi. His goals were.
Magic (paranormal) - The motivation of much scientific enquiry is similar to the motivation of magic; that it is possible to discover the underlying reality behind mundane reality, and that that reality may have laws and princples which may be discovered and controlled. Unlike the practice of magic, science has the scientific method to correct its errors. As the scientific method took hold, astronomy evolved from astrology, and chemistry from alchemy. Belief in various magical practices has waxed and waned in European and Western history, under pressure from either organised monotheistic religions or from scepticism about the reality of magic, and the ascendency of scientism. The time of the Emperor Julian of Rome, marked by a reaction against the influence of Christianity, saw a revival of magical practices associated with neo-Platonism under the guise.
