The Material Culture of Ancient Greek Astronomy
In our time there is no one central science. Rather, scientific knowledge is divided into dozens of specialties and hundreds of subspecialties. But in Antiquity there was a central science, namely astronomy, which had important links with philosophy, religion, mathematics, art, and literature. What we know about the history of ancient Greek astronomy comes to us mainly through surviving texts. However, there was also a rich material culture of objects with astronomical meanings. These included devices of practical utility, such as sundials and instruments of observation, as well as objects of symbolic significance. In this illustrated lecture, we shall survey the material manifestations of astronomy in ancient life.
Speaker biography:
James Evans is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Puget Sound in Washington state in the USA. He is a historian of science whose specialties include the history of cosmology and ancient Greek astronomy. He is the author of The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy and numerous research articles and is the editor-in-chief of the Journal for the History of Astronomy.