Ancient Greek astronomy was the study of the universe to understand how it functioned and why apart from the established theistic model that claimed all things were ordered and maintained by the gods. Ancient Greek astronomers relied on observation and mathematical calculation to determine the operation of the universe and Earth’s place within it.
More about: Greek AstronomyDefinition
Timeline
-
c. 7000 BCE - c. 600 BCEAstronomy developed by Indus Valley Civilization, Mesopotamians, and Egyptians.
-
c. 585 BCETime in which Thales of Miletus lived.
-
28 May 585 BCEA battle between Media and Lydia broke off immediately as a result of a total eclipse of the sun and the two armies made peace. The eclipse was successfully predicted by Thales of Miletus.
-
c. 571 BCE - c. 497 BCELife of Pythagoras of Samos; claim that "number" is the First Cause of existence and the soul is immortal.
-
384 BCE - 322 BCELife of Aristotle.
-
c. 310 BCE - c. 230 BCELife of Greek astronomer and mathematician Aristarchus of Samos.
-
276 BCE - 195 BCELife of Eratosthenes, ancient Greek Alexandrian scholar, native of Cyrene and one of the greatest geographers in antiquity.
-
c. 190 BCE - c. 120 BCELife of Hipparchus of Nicea, the ancient Greek mathematician, astronomer and geographer considered the greatest astronomer of antiquity and among the most impressive in world history
-
100 CE - 170 CEAstronomer Ptolemy lived, author of the Almagest.
-
100 CEThe mathematician and astronomer Menelaus of Alexandria lived.