The Origins of Astronomy
The Complete History of Science
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The Babylonian Astronomers Observed the Night Sky
For the Babylonians, observation of the night sky was primarily about predicting what might happen here on Earth. The question they hoped to answer were not personal ones which we might now associate with astrology but questions of national importance. Would there be a good harvest this year? Would now be a good time to go to war with a neighbouring city? For this the Babylonians created records of astronomical observations and paralleled in the ancient world. They achieved this because theirs was a complex, centralised and stratified society.
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