The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy

I read Evans' book on ancient astronomy because I was interested in the history of astronomy. So this is a limited review; I cannot speak to the quality of the exercises for the students. It is difficult to find any biography for any of the ancient astronomers simply because the data is so limited that filling up a separate volume is nearly impossible. In desperation I turned to Evans' text. It turned out to be a serendipitous move. Simply as history, this is an excellent book.Evans starts out with references to the sky in the earliest Greek and Babylonian manuscripts and then has a 16 page overview from that point up to Copernicus. He then begins to interweave exercises, observations to be done, and applications into the text. Each chapter has many sub-headings which makes it easy for the reader to select those sections that are historical compared to the hands-on sections. As is apparent from looking "inside" the book on Amazon, the chapters are divided by topic with the last one on the planets being by far the longest. This makes sense since the planets were so important for developing ancient theory. Readers find the same names appearing in different contexts and by the end I had a strong grasp of the contributions of many of the pre-modern astronomers.The book changed my thinking entirely about Ptolemy. Living in the time we do, it is easy to have a fairly strong negative stereotype of "Ptolemaic astronomy." Evans completely shatters that stereotype. Ptolemy was not only an excellent astronomer for his time but a superb organizer of the information available to him. There is extensive detail about Ptolemy in the book. Evans discusses the relationship between data and theory, especially as it applies to Ptolemy. It sheds light not just on Ptolemy but also many other ancients like Aristotle. Ptolemy, like Aristotle, was not responsible for the doctrinaire uses of his ideas hundreds of years after his death. (I often wonder how Aristotle would have responded to the use of his ideas to block the study of nature, a study which he himself considered so important.) The reader will find in here a biography of Ptolemy that is better than any single volume out there.The book also brought several other people to my attention, especially Hipparchus. Hipparchus was one of the very first to make careful observation and careful analysis central to his ideas. His name keeps popping up in places you would not expect. He seems almost like a person born in the wrong time. I had also known in general that Muslim culture had kept science alive through the European Dark Ages but Evans fleshes this fact out in detail by talking about the contributions of several individuals. Evans corrected and filled in some very simple and often inaccurate concepts I had. I cannot comment on the book as a classroom text. But I found it an excellent source of historical information about the ancient astronomers. Strictly from the historical perspective, I can highly recommend this book.

Although the book is a wonderful account of the history of astronomy, it misses alot of practical aspects in the history, which I was anxiously looking to find.One of the most irritating omission is a thorough explanation of exactly how the reference direction of Aires is measured and used, this requires a very accurate determination of when the sun crosses the equator or the exact altitude of the sun at such a date: How is this measurement done to such a high accuracy made at the time, and how is the direction transferred from a day-time reading to a night time use?The book made great notice of the fact that measurements off by fractions of one degree were somehow significant, not analyzing how such measurements are possible with the devices available, not least is the unaided eye with a resolution of about 1 minute at best, and the diffraction of the light of the sun from sharp edges and the visible size of the sun, and the refraction of the atmosphere, not also considering systemic measurement errors and statistical variations. For a measurement precision of 1 minute corresponding to 1 mm or arc requires a radius of 3.5 meters: how was this instrument constructed to not distort under its weight, how was it operated, how was the scale marked on the radius? This speaks well of the mechanical and metallurgical level of technology at the time. How were all these astronomical measurements made to such precision and accuracy?Many stars were measured with reference to the ecliptic. How was this imaginary line in the heavens marked on the instrument so that angular differences of stars can be made?How is the mean time measured when there were no clocks available, and further, how is mean time adjustment to a clock made when there are chronometers available? The angular velocity of the sun varies throughout the year, so how was the corrections made?How was measurement data recorded and saved over hundreds of years to be available to future astronomers, especially in ancient days?Notwithstanding all these short comings, I found the book has many useful mathematical explanations, and an excellent account of the Ptolemy model of the planets and the deferent-epicycle model of the sun both of which I used to write Matlab programs. The results are quite respectable, finding that the calculated ephemeris of longitude, declination and equation of time of the sun was within seconds of published almanacs. Similarly for planetary positions.Also interesting is the construction and use of an astrolabe and other devices.Missing is a chapter on the moon motion, but at over 400 pages, it probably would make the book big.The fact that such accurate and precise measurements were made and theories created considering all these practical impediments is truly astounding, further considering the level of knowledge at the time. I doubt if such advances could be made today if a group of people were put in similar circumstances.

This book is as the title states both a history of astronomy done by the ancients and the tools and methods that they employed. This book has all kinds of information on the Ptolemaic system which even though cast aside by the Copernican revolution was a great achievement. It also talks about the methods and instruments of ancient astronomy. You can learn how astrolabe works (hint it is method of taking the apparent three dimensional sphere of the starry sky and placing it on a flat surface) which translates the coordinates and movement of the stars. You even can make an astrolabe with the detailed diagrams in the back of the book. It also covers what the ancients knew about precession, how Eratosthenes calculated the size of the earth and the distance to the moon. It is a restorative antidote to ridicule of the ancients received by us moderns for not knowing the earth went around the sun. It places the early astronomers back to the eminent position they deserve.

The information provided in the book was quite helpful however $70.00 with the shipping and handling, was too much. Probably only worth about half that. So why did I by it? After reviewing other books on the same topic this one seemed to contain most of the specific information I was looking for so I "bit the bullet" and got it hoping that, while I cannot view all the material in the book before purchasing it, it may prove worthwhile once I can look through the whole thing. After doing so I still find it to be more expensive that it really should be. I would recommend not spending more than a maximum of $40.00 total for this book if you can get it anywhere for that. I bought the book new, but you can get a used copy cheaper. You can also rent it cheaper or get the kindle edition which is the cheapest way to go.

This book is fantastic. Any astronomer (amateurs and professional ones) beinginterested in the history and practice of old astronomy should have a copy of this book. I looked for a very long time in book stores and on the net for such a book with those topics. It is well structured, nicely written, easy to read, the Mathematics could be a little more profound, but that fact does not damage the whole impression of the book. Many images of ancient astronomic devices and schematical diagrams illustrate the history and practice of ancient astronomy vividly.The book is also suited for students and scientists of History, for many citations and references to the ancient authors are to be found inside of the book.The information on the astronomy of the Middle Ages is short, in fact, butat that time people believed that the Earth is a disk, so what?

I’m 1/3 through this book and I’m amazed how much I’ve gained in understanding of ancient astronomy. As an amateur astronomer myself this book complements and gives me a new perspective of how things came to be. It’s very well written and a definite must have

one of the most interesting books i've ever read,a tour de force in the history of this science along old civilizations, enriched by explanation of mathematical/observational astronomy concepts. A must read for amateur astronomers and even astrologers who study medieval and classical astrology.

Der Evans ist in kürzester Zeit zu einem unverzichtbaren Klassiker geworden. Hier lernt man nicht nur die Geschichte der frühen Astronomie, sondern auch die Astronomie selber. Evans ist es in wunderbar lesbarer Weise gelungen, ein spannendes Kapitel der Menschheitsgeschichte verständlich zu beschreiben. Ein großartiges Buch in einem großen Format.

Superb book.