Development of Babylonian Astronomy

Name: Development of Babylonian Astronomy
Start: -700
End: -450

Type Event Region Babylon Time c. -700–-450

From roughly the seventh to sixth centuries BCE, Babylonian scribes and priest-astronomers established a systematic tradition of astronomical observa…

Timeline

c. -700–-600Babylon · BabyloniaBabylonian scribes began recording solar, lunar, and planetary phenomena in a standardized format, accumulating long observational series and using arithmetic methods to predict eclipses, marking astronomy's shift from divinatory record-keeping to mathematical prediction.
c. -600–-450Observatories at Uruk and Babylon · BabyloniaAstronomers developed arithmetic models for planetary synodic periods and stations, divided the band of stars near the sun's path into twelve zodiacal sectors, and compiled star tables and calendrical interpolation tables, providing a methodological foundation for later Greek astronomy.

Sources

Babylonian Mathematical Astronomy: Procedure Texts — Hermann Hunger and David Pingree (1999)
A History of Ancient Mathematical Astronomy — Otto Neugebauer (1975)