To an astronomer in 2023, a star is a big ball of gas millions of miles away. To a person living in ancient Greece, these bright lights in the sky were the homes of spirits who’d once lived on Earth. Over time, numerous countries have found their own meanings in the stars, from the birth of the constellations to the facts known today. While the night sky isn’t the basis of modern culture, it has been a guiding point for many different societies throughout time.
Mesopotamia
The first known records of astronomical measurement came from civilizations in ancient Mesopotamia, where Iraq is today. Babylon was one of Mesopotamia’s most famous cities, and Babylonian astronomers placed a large part in the beliefs of the country, using a sexagesimal system. This system, which counted by the base of 60, helped the Babylonian find and measure celestial objects.
In Babylon, priests practiced astrology. The focus on astrology at the time was to look at what was happening in the sky, so they could make predictions on the movements of the planets. By looking at the stars, priests were able to determine the will of the gods.
Similar to other cultures, the Mesopotamians associated the planets with the Gods: Venus was Ishtar, Jupiter was Marduk, Mercury was Nabu, Mars was Nergal, and Saturn was Ninurta.
Around 400 BC, the Babylonians took an interest in horoscopes, believing that they could find out about people based on the position of their stars at birth. One famous prophecy in 2nd Century BC was that children born in the 12th month would live longer and have male children.
By late 5th Century BCE, Babylonian astronomers had established a system of reference stars and zodiac constellations to standardize their observations. Originally, the Babylonians had 18 main constellations, but they later focused on the most important 12, making the earliest version of the astrological zodiac circle used today.
The work of the Babylonias helped pave the way for the Greeks and Romans.
Greece
The Greeks were ahead of the game, recognizing early on that the earth was a big sphere. Later in the field of astronomy, Greek civilization drew many of their beliefs from the Egyptians and the Babylonians. The Greeks saw the stars as spirits themselves, and the spirits of the night sky taught the Greeks stories that they passed down from generation to generation.
The seven bright stars in the shape of a dipper were called The Great Bear. The Greeks looked to images in the sky to teach lessons. For the man holding a bow, also known as Orion, is seen in the stars and symbolizes hunting.
While the Greeks are famous for the myths people think of when they refer to the constellations, they also played a big part in discovering the science behind the stars. Hipparchus is a famous Greek astronomer who helped invent trigonometry and used the ability to predict solar eclipses. He plotted the movement of the sun and the moon, and he created one of the first comprehensive star charts.
Egypt
The world of Egyptians revolved around the night sky. It was believed that the stars were a part of this world and Duat, or the land of the afterlife. The Egyptians named over 38 constellations.
Between 2818-2040 BCE, the Egyptians charted the night sky as a 360-degree circle divided into decans, groups of 36 stars that appeared regularly.
The stars were so important to their society that they based the alignment of the pyramids of Giza, temples and sanctuaries on them. The stars helped the Egyptians predict the annual flooding of the Nile, which helped fertilize their land.
The nature of the stars influenced the development of the Egyptian calendar and their beliefs on life and death. Some Egyptian temples and tombs even had the night sky painted on the ceilings.
China
The ancient Chinese paid close attention to the sun, the moon, and the stars. These were the most ethereal features people could observe, and they believed the movement of the stars was related to the destiny of the country and its rulers. In almost every dynasty, officials observed and recorded the changes of night sky.
For China, the sky was split into 28 mansions, or what is commonly referred to as constellations. A tomb from the Neolithic Age was found with clamshells and bones forming the Northern Dipper and other famous constellations. The Ming Dynasty, which lasted from 1562-1633, introduced 23 more constellations near the Celestial South Pole.
The Chinese treated the stars as a miniature of the earthly world. Their heaven was a reflection of society. The Chinese constructed star maps as early as the 3rd Century. The Chinese maintained the longest continuous record of all kinds of astronomical phenomena, including information that is still used for research today, and ancient Chinese astronomers made more than 100 astronomical calendars. 50 of them were officially used, helping them construct a clock tower in the 11th Century.
Although astrology might not have all of the answers to today’s society, the way the stars affected and swayed cultures can still be seen now.
Sources: NASA, Sky & Telescope, Ancient Origins, Astrobites, World History Encyclopedia, Newslea, Egyptian Myths, China.org, New World Encyclopedia, Cambridge
