ANCIENT

ASTRONO
MY
LESSON 1
 LEARNING
OBJECTIVES
1 2
discuss the thoughts of realize the importance of the
philosophers about the shape of shape of the Earth; and
the Earth;

3
perform a song, a role-play (experiment),
poem, poster, or interpretative dance
explaining how the Greeks knew the Earth is
Spherical.
INTRODUCTION
• Around 500 B.C., most Greeks believed that the Earth was
round.
• Pythagoras and his pupils were the first to propose a
spherical Earth.
• From 500 to 430 B.C., Anaxagoras further supported
Pythagoras' proposal through his observations of the
shadows that the Earth cast on the Moon during a lunar
eclipse. The shadow reflected was circular.
INTRODUCTION

ARISTOTL Around 340 B.C., Aristotle listed several

E arguments for spherical Earth which included
the positions of the North Star, the shape of
the Moon and the Sun, and the disappearance
of the ships when they sail over the horizon.
NORTH STAR
THE SHAPE OF THE SUN
AND THE MOON
DISAPPEARING SHIP
THE SIZE OF THE
SPHERICAL EARTH
ERATOSTHE
NES
 ANCIENT GREEK
ASTRONOMERS
A.
ANAXAGOR
AS Anaxagoras was able to explain what causes
the phases of the moon.
ANCIENT GREEK
ASTRONOMERS
B.
EUDOXUS Eudoxus proposed a system of fixed spheres.

He believed that the Sun, the moon, the five

known planets, and the stars were attached to
these spheres which carried the heavenly
bodies while they revolve around the
stationary Earth.
ANCIENT GREEK
ASTRONOMERS
B.
EUDOXUS
 ANCIENT GREEK
ASTRONOMERS
C.
ARISTOTLE Aristotle was a student of Plato.
For him, the Earth is spherical in shape since
it always casts a curved shadow when it
eclipses the moon.

He also believed that the earth was the center

of the universe.
 ANCIENT GREEK
ASTRONOMERS
D. ARISTARCHUS OF
SAMOS
Aristarchus is the very first Greek to profess
the heliocentric view.

He also made an attempt to calculate the

distance of the sun and the moon by using
geometric principles.
 ANCIENT GREEK
ASTRONOMERS
E. ERATOSTHENES
The first successful attempt to determine the
size of the earth was made by him. He did this
by applying geometric principles.
 ANCIENT GREEK
ASTRONOMERS
F. HIPPARCHUS
Hipparchus is considered as the greatest of the
early Greek astronomers.

He observed and compared the brightness of

850 stars and arranged them into an order of
brightness and magnitude.
 ANCIENT GREEK
ASTRONOMERS
F. HIPPARCHUS
He developed a method for predicting the
times of lunar eclipses within a few hours.

He measured the length of the year to within

minutes of the modern value.
 ANCIENT GREEK
ASTRONOMERS
G. CLAUDIUS
PTOLEMY
He believed that the Earth was the center of
the universe.

His Ptolemic Model claimed that the planets

moved in a complicated system of circles.
THE PTOLEMIC MODEL
REFERENCES
HTTPS://EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG/WIKI/ERATOSTHENES#/MEDIA/
FILE:ERATOSTHENES_MEASURE_OF_EARTH_CIRCUMFERENCE.SVG
HTTPS://WWW.SCIENCEFOCUS.COM/SPACE/WHY-DOES-THE-MOON-APPEAR-WHITE-AND-THE-SUN-YELLOW/

HTTPS://WWW.QUORA.COM/WHAT-IS-THE-PTOLEMAIC-MODEL-OF-THE-SOLAR-SYSTEM
HTTPS://WWW.WWU.EDU/ASTRO101/A101_HISTORICALFIGURES.SHTML

HTTPS://PRABOOK.COM/WEB/ARISTARCHUS.OF_SAMOS/3735785

HTTPS://WWW.BRITANNICA.COM/BIOGRAPHY/ANAXAGORAS

HTTPS://MATHSHISTORY.ST-ANDREWS.AC.UK/BIOGRAPHIES/EUDOXUS/
HTTPS://EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG/WIKI/HIPPARCHUS

HTTPS://EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG/WIKI/ERATOSTHENES
HTTPS://WWW.NEWSCIENTIST.COM/LASTWORD/MG25433802-900-IF-EARTH-WERE-FLAT-WHEN-WOULD-A-
SHIP-DISAPPEAR-FROM-SIGHT/
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