Related papers: Astronomical Lunisolar Cycles and Late Antique Chr…
This is a historian's view of how modern astronomy data can be used to discuss the shifting historical worldview of Late Antiquity. In this article an attemp is made to construct an approximate model of how the cycles of astronomical…
Astronomical observations were used as a marker for time and the Calendar from ancient times. A more subtle calibration of epochs is thrown up by an observation of the position of the solstices and equinoxes, because these points shift in…
Old algorithms are still in use nowadays setting the Easter date accordingly to some elements giving the Spring Equinox and the New Moon for a given year. At least two different approaches (by the Orthodox and Catholic Churches) provide…
The beginning of the calendar record inscribed on the Mamari tablet has been dated to the day of the summer solstice of December 20, 1680 A.D. The moon was not visible earlier at night. Because of a possible solar eclipse it was a perilous…
The recently shown two premises (Gurzadyan 2000), i.e. the absence of 56/64 year Venus cycle constraints, at the importance of the 8-year cycle in the Venus Tablet, stimulated new studies on the Chronology of the Ancient Near East (2nd…
We outline the priority of high quality data of astronomical content as our strategy for the analysis of the ancient astronomical records in the search of the absolute chronology of the Near East in II millennium BC. The correspondingly…
This paper introduces two astronomical methods developed through computational simulation to evaluate the historical dating of ancient astronomical sources. The first identifies a 1151-year planetary cycle based on the recurrence of visible…
The search of a rational explanation of eclipses pervades the beginnings of philosophical and scientific thought. Within this intellectual frame, the knowledge of the "saros cycle" (a cycle of 18 years, 10 or 11 days and 1/3 of a day that…
Previously, the most prominent explanation for the Star of Bethlehem was to identify one of many astronomical events in the sky as being the inspiration for the trip of the Magi. However, all the astronomical answers have detailed…
The 1703 was the first year of full operation of the meridian line in the Basilica of St. Maria degli Angeli in Rome. The instants of solstices and equinoxes, the \textit{Anni Cardines}, obtained by comparing transit timings of Sun and…
This illustrated article represents a popular account of the study of the Babylonian astronomical records of Enuma Anu Enlil tablet series i.e. of the Venus Tablet of Ammisaduqa and of two lunar eclipses linked with the IIIrd dynasty of Ur,…
For many decades scholars converse how to correctly include the Old Babylonian Empire into the absolute timeline of history. A cuneiform text from the series Enuma Anu Enlil (EAE #20) reports on the destruction of Babylon after a lunar and…
The year 2012 will be the fourth centennial year of the Jesuit Christopher Clavius (1535-1612), known as the Euclid of XVI century and the collaborator of the Pope Gregory XIII for the calendar reformation. In the occasion of the year of…
The total lunar eclipse on March 14, 2025 UT occurs nearly exactly 521 years (one Hypersaros) after a similar eclipse on March 1, 1504 UT that is renowned for its importance to the voyage of Columbus to Jamaica. Eclipses separated by a…
The growing interest in the "Medieval Climate Anomaly" (MCA) and its possible link to anomalous solar activity has prompted new reconstructions of solar activity based on cosmogenic radionuclides. These proxies however do not sufficiently…
Many have have taken in hand to write a treatise on the Star of Bethlehem, particularly on Kepler's explanation as a stellar birth, triggered by Mars joining a great conjunction (a meeting of Jupiter and Saturn), as he observed it in…
The Ancient Egyptians wrote Calendars of Lucky and Unlucky Days that assigned astronomically influenced prognoses for each day of the year. The best preserved of these calendars is the Cairo Calendar (hereafter CC) dated to 1244--1163 B.C.…
This work analyzes the phase correlation of the three lunar cycles and the Saros/Exeligmos cycle, after the study of the chapter About Exeligmos in Introduction to the Phenomena by Geminus. Geminus, refers that each Exeligmos cycle began on…
The traditional date of 1595 BCE for the destruction of Babylon by the Hittite king Mursili I is accepted by most historians for many years despite notable controversies. This pivotal date is considered crucial to the various calculations…
The solar eclipse of Good Friday has always been recognized as a problem from the astronomical point of view. The date of Crucifixion has been investigated by many scholars and the most accredited one is friday 3 april 33, when, at sunset…