The Song of Urania Joe Antognini
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- Science
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A history of astronomy, from antiquity to the present.
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The Heavens & History
How should we approach the history of astronomy? How have the questions that astronomers have asked changed through the ages? We look at some of these questions and sketch out the broad arc of this field from antiquity to the present day.
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The Stars over Babylon
What are the earliest records of constellations? How did the ancient Babylonians keep track of their progress through the year? And how do we know what we know about Babylonia?
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When the Moon Disappears
We look at how the Babylonians associated the heavens with their gods and how Mesopotamian astrology developed after the Assyrian conquest. We hear some examples of astrological omens and see how Babylonians handled the most malevolent of omens, the lunar eclipse.
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The Astronomical Diaries
We step back and look at Babylon's broader political history and see how Babylonian astronomy changes during the rise of the Neo-Babylonian Empire and the Persian Conquest. Then we look at some of the types of astronomical records the Babylonians produced, particularly the Astronomical Diaries, the longest continuous research program of any society in history.
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A System of Weights & Measures
We look at how the Babylonians represented information in their astronomical tablets by examining their number system and the unit system. Then we dive into the Babylonian discovery of the Saros cycle, which was a deep regularity in the pattern of lunar eclipses.
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System of a B
We dive into the most sophisticated model of planetary and lunar motions that the Babylonians developed: System A and System B and see how the Babylonians used this method to predict eclipses, the length of months, and even measure the precession of the perihelion.
Customer Reviews
Amazing, refined podcast
I was in the South of Italy studying the architecture of antiquity and I was looking for something on the Eleatic School and found this absolute gem of a podcast. I was looking for Parmenides and Pythagoras as well and this had great insights into Magna Grecia and greater Hellenistic culture and then through other tangents. You can learn a lot from this gentleman. 10/10
Stars in my pocket
Stumbled onto this podcast but it has been a real joy and I’ve appreciated learning some history, especially with the emphasis on the context of what it meant to the people of the time.
Fantastic
If you enjoy great history podcasts with a lot of context, such as Age of Napoleon, then you will love this one! Also great for those who enjoy astronomy and are interested in how it developed over the millennia. The host is highly knowledgeable and does a great job of breaking down complex topics. I look forward to listening for years to come!