Ancient Greek Astronomy Since the first Egyptian farmers discovered the annual reappearance of Sirius just before dawn a few days before the yearly rising of the Nile, ancient civilizations around the Mediterranean have sought to explain the movements of the heavens as a sort of calendar to help guide them conduct earthly activities. Counting phases of the moon or observing the annual variations of day length could, after many years' collection of observations, serve as …showed first 75 words of 1976 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1976 total…than the Greeks, who had placed their version of a Bible, the Homeric and Hesiodic myth-cycle, into the realm of metaphor. Works Cited Aveni, Anthony F. Stairways to the Stars. New York, NY, 1997. Brecher, Keneth, ed. al. Astronomy of the Ancients. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1979. Heath, Thomas. Greek Astronomy. New York, Dover Publications, 1991. http://www.greekciv.pdx.edu/science/astro/debok.htm [Accessed 2/18/00] Krupp, E.C. In Search of Ancient Astronomies. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1977.