Some Neolithic Europeans seem to have been particular-
ly interested in marking the extreme positions of the moon.
At Ca l la nish, i n t he Outer Hebr ides of Scot la nd (t hi rd mi l len-
nium b.c.e.), for example, a burial mound is ringed by a stone
circle from which emanate apparent avenues to east, south,
and west as well as to the north-northeast. Th is last avenue,
in its southerly direction, is oriented to the moon’s south-
ernmost setting point (major standstill), a point to which
it would return only once every 18.6 years. Th om identifi ed
the site as a “lunar observatory” based on his measurements
there, and the site’s lunar signifi cance is enhanced through its
association by the archaeologist Aubrey Burl with a descrip-
tion made by Diodorus of Sicily (fi rst century b.c.e.) of a cir-
cular temple said to be dedicated to the moon and its divine
visitation every 19 years.
Site location and orientation are no more important
than at Crucuno (probably built around 3000 b.c.e.), a site
in Brittany that is a rectangle of stones with sides oriented
exactly to the cardinal directions with lengths of precisely
30 and 40 megalithic yards and therefore a diagonal of 50,
the classic Pythagorean dimensions. Th e diagonals them-
selves align precisely to the rising and setting of the Decem-
ber and June solstice suns, a phenomenon possible in the
Northern Hemisphere only at this latitude (47.5oN). Cru-
cuno’s stunning combination of astronomical alignments
with cardinal orientation as well as its ideal geometric and
numeric proportions is a strong case for ancient European
sophistication in coordinating cosmic features into the
cultural landscape.
Th e most famous megalithic site of Europe associated
with astronomy is Stonehenge on England’s Salisbury Plain,
whose numerous features represent several major building
phases between approximately 3000 and 1500 b.c.e. Stone-
henge has been called an astronomical observatory and is as-
sociated with a computational device for predicting eclipses,
but many claims are disputed. Its least controversial align-
ment is that of the main avenue in conjunction with its tril-
ithon (two large vertical stones supporting a horizontal stone)
and bluestone horseshoes, past the Heelstone, to the June
solstice sunrise. Th e astronomer Gerald Hawkins suggests
that the site’s circle of 56 Aubrey holes (a ring of debris- and
chalk-fi lled pits that encircles the stone monument portion of
Stonehenge and is associated with the site’s earliest building
phase) functioned in an elaborate tally system for predicting
eclipses, but there is little corroborating evidence to support
this computational scheme.
Still, the interest of ancient Europeans in making and uti-
lizing precise and complex astronomical observations should
not be underestimated. A recently unearthed and somewhat
controversial artifact from Germany known as the Nebra sky
disk furthers this association. Dated to approximately 1600
b.c.e., the bronze disk is inlaid with golden symbols that
have been interpreted as the sun or full moon, crescent
moon, and stars, including the Pleiades. Th e artifact also is
associated with an enclosure atop a hill known as the Mittel-
berg (“Central Hill”), which is associated with astronomical
observations. Since it was not excavated using proper archae-
ological methods, the authenticity of the sky disk has been
questioned, though microscopic analysis suggests that it is
genuinely ancient.
Without the confi rming evidence of written records from
the era, interpretations of archaeological remains of ancient
Europe must remain speculative, but the mounting data indi-
cate that ancient Europeans were interested in and skilled at
observing the sun (especially solstices and equinoxes), moon
(including its standstill positions), and prominent stars (no-
tably for their heliacal rise). Even in the absence of writing—
as Hesiod’s orally transmitted poetry reveals—astronomical
observations are recorded in hand-worked devices, such as
the Nebra disk, and alignments of cultural features to orient
people in time and space, to organize their productive and
ritual activities, and to integrate and synchronize them with-
in the fl ow of natural and cosmic forces.GREECE
BY TOM STREISSGUTH
Th e mythology of gods and heroes accounted for what the
ancient Greeks observed in the heavens until the advent of ge-
ometry. Th e Greek astronomers replaced the ancient legends
with a system of mathematical logic created not by remote
gods but by philosophers. In this way the natural world, in-
cluding the sun, moon, and the mysterious lights of the night
sky, could be understood as a consistent, harmonious system
rather than as arbitrary chaos or the whim of a deity.
Th e earliest Greek astronomer of renown was Th ales of
Miletus (ca. 625–ca. 547 b.c.e.), who lived in a colony of Ionia
on the eastern shores of the Aegean Sea. According to tradi-
tion, Th ales predicted a solar eclipse of May 28, 585 b.c.e.,
and, in this way, helped the warring Medes and Lydians reach
a cease-fi re. He used a mathematical system of predicting
eclipses from Babylonia, which relied on the saros (eclipse)
cycle of every 18.6 years.
While written records and observations of Babylonia
formed an important foundation for Greek astronomy, the
Greeks went further to create more complex blueprints for
the structure of the universe. Anaximander of Miletus (ca.
610–ca. 545 b.c.e.) held the sun as the highest and farthest
body in the heavens, followed by the moon, the stars in their
fi xed positions, and the planets. Like nearly all the Greek
astronomers who followed him, Anaximander was a geo-
centrist: He believed that the earth lay fi xed, at the center of
the universe.
Pythagoras, a philosopher of about 500 b.c.e., created
concepts and theorems that could be applied universally to
observations of the natural world. He recognized that the
earth is a sphere—the perfect geometrical shape—and de-
termined that the orbit of the moon was inclined, or tilted,130 astronomy: Greece