Exact Science in Antiquity

Abstract

If history is the study of relations between different cultures and different periods, the history of exact science has a definite advantage over general history. Relations in the field of science can be established in many cases to such a degree of exactitude that we might almost speak of a “proof” in the sense of mathematical rigor. If, for instance, Hindu astronomy uses excenters and epicycles to describe the movement of the celestial bodies, its dependence on Greek astronomy is established beyond any doubt; and the dependence of Greek astronomy on Babylonian methods is obvious from the very fact that all calculations are carried out in sexagesimal notation. However, the fact that the center of interest in the history of science lies in the relationship between methods requires a new classification of historical periods. In the history of astronomy, for instance, concepts such as “ancient” or “medieval” make very little sense. The method and even the general mental attitude of the work of Copernicus is much more closely related to that of Ptolemy, a millennium and a half before, than to the methods and concepts of Newton, a century and a half later. It may seem, therefore, a rather arbitrary procedure in the following report on exact science in antiquity to take into consideration only the period before Ptolemy (ca. 150 A. D.).