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Ancient Babylonian Science

Ancient Babylonian Science. Brieana Paice Lynette Lewis Eric Moehrle Nida kiali. Babylonian Civilization. Babylonia is an ancient country of Mesopotamia ( nowadays Iraq). Urbanized country based on agriculture. Babylonia consisted of cities, and small villages.

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Ancient Babylonian Science

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  1. Ancient Babylonian Science Brieana Paice Lynette Lewis Eric Moehrle Nida kiali

  2. Babylonian Civilization • Babylonia is an ancient country of Mesopotamia ( nowadays Iraq). • Urbanized country based on agriculture. • Babylonia consisted of cities, and small villages. • Ruled by a king who had absolute power. • Babylonians were polytheistic: believed in many gods. • Babylonian civilization lasted 1200 years, from 18th century BC to 6th century BC. • Babylonians had a great impact on both, ancient and modern world. Map of Babylonia

  3. Science of Babylonia • Babylonians were quite advance when it comes to science. • They recorded their knowledge on clay tablets known as cuneiform. • They left their signature in many sciences such as astronomy/ astrology, mathematics, medicine, art and architecture etc. • In addition, they were the first to develop the early form of writing. Babylonian Clay Tablet

  4. Purpose of Astronomy in Babylonia . Astronomy was practiced as astrology. . Among Babylonians, astronomical events have a religious meaning. . Astronomers predicted events in people’s lives based on the movements of the planets. . To many Babylonians, the Sun, planets, and stars were gods and goddesses who controlled their lives. . Location of constellations helped them identifying seasons for planting and harvesting crops. . The yearly rising and setting times of some constellations, acted as a time measurement tool. Shamash- Sun God

  5. Astronomical Achievements of Babylonians . Because Babylonians believed that there was a purpose behind the creation of the universe , the position of planets and stars, they watched the heavens and predicted astronomical events. . They predicted solar and lunar eclipses. . Established a simple model based on observations. . Babylonians mapped venue's cycle and were able to calculate its lengths. Venus the Moon and the Sun

  6. Astronomical Achievements of Babylonians(continue) . Babylonians acknowledged the 18 years of Saros cycle. . Records show that from 8th century BC, Babylonians started to contemplate the origin of the cosmos with corresponds to astronomical observations. . The first to form the familiar contemporary zodiac of the 12 constellations and brightest stars which the sun passes through. . These constellations and bright stars followed the annual path of the sun. Babylonian Star Map

  7. Astronomical Achievements of Babylonians(continue) . Babylonian constellations: Gemini, Cancer, Libra, the goat-fish Capricorn. Taurus with bright star Aldebaran, Leo with Regulus. Scorpius withAntares. Virgo with Spica. . Planets included the moon were measured relatively to the bright stars in the zodiac constellations. . Measured the sky in degrees. . Knew theexact path of sun through the zodiac constellations. Babylonian Ecliptic

  8. Babylonian Mathematics . Babylonians developed mathematics to understand astronomy. . Understood fractions squares, and square roots. . Founded a place value system, where the position of the sign in the number determines its value. . Place-value system is similar to our modern decimal system. . Naburimanni 490 B.C. and Kidinu 480 B.C famous astronomers and mathematicians, developed “System B”: Babylonian theory describes the speed of the moon's motion around the zodiac.

  9. Babylonian Mathematics Continue • The place value is a sexagessimal system, based on 60. • A place value system helped Babylonia astronomers to work easily with fractions, reciprocals, multiplication and division. • Plimpton 322, a Babylonian mathematical tablet from 1900 B.C., contains a table of Pythagorean triples. • Came up with the 360 degree circle and the 60 minute hour.

  10. Babylonian Numbers • Babylonian numeration system began about 5,000 years ago. • An early numeration system was developed and based on 10. • There was also a system based on 60. • “The system first started with tally marks just like most of the ancient math systems did.” • The Babylonian system contained 60 characters. • Their symbols for their numbers were wedge shaped. Sexigesimal system

  11. Babylonian Numbers continue . No symbol for zero, but the idea of zero was used. • They used instrument and pressed it into wet clay. Then, they dried it. This writing known as cuneiform ="wedge shape". • Any number less than 10 had a wedge that pointed down. •  The number 10 was symbolized by a wedge pointing to the left. . Numbers less than 60 were made by combing the symbols of 1 and 10. • The Babylonian system also had units. . . To express zero. they left a blank space between the number they were writing. Plimpton 322

  12. Babylonian Calendar . The year began on spring equinox. . Based on 12 lunar months a year. . Each month beginning when a new crescent moon was observed. . Months consist of 29-30 days. . To keep the year 352 days, a month was added every 3 years or so. . Months were divided into weeks. . Each week had 7 days. . Each day consisted of 24 hours. . Each hour consisted fro 60 minutes. . Each minute consisted of 6o second. . The 60 bases system still in uses. Babylonian Calendar

  13. References http://assets.cambridge.org/97805218/08408/sample/9780521808408ws.pdf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonia http://www.euclides.org/menu/articles/article3004.htm http://history-world.org/babylonia.htm http://hsci.ou.edu/images/images/mov/Babylon.pdf http://ircamera.as.arizona.edu/NatSci102/text/babylonian.htm http://www.livius.org/k/kidinnu/kidinnu.htm http://www.math.wichita.edu/history/topics/num-sys.html#babylonian http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=369437&direct=1 http://visav.phys.uvic.ca/~babul/AstroCourses/P303/mesopotamia.html http://visav.phys.uvic.ca/~babul/AstroCourses/P303/mesopotamia.html http://www.webexhibits.org/calendars/calendar-ancient.html#anchor-babylonian

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