Ancient Greek Science and Astronomy

The Ancient Greek culture has had such an impact on the world that no matter

where you look you're sure to find something Greek about it. Out of all the

areas that the Greek culture is famous for there are two that tend to exert

themselves into our own culture even today. That would be their Science and

Astronomy fields.

If one were to look up in a library books about ancient Greek science and astronomy

they would have a mountain of books to sift through. There seem to be so many

individuals who have contributed towards the great scientific and astronomic

revelations that the list of names seems to go on and on. Many of the theories

that were structured in the ancient Greek culture are still put to use today.

The goal of this paper is to point out and describe just a few ancient Greek

individuals and their works that whom without their work we might never have

advanced as far and as fast as we have technologically or mentally.

Sometimes described as the first pure mathematician, Pythagoras of Samos, was

a very important developer of modern mathematics. Unfortunately there is, in

comparison, little known about his and his followers' achievements for they

worked in a secret society where they kept strictly to themselves.

An odd note about the details of Pythagoras's life is that the information

that is written about him in early biographies is done so by authors who make

him out to be a god-like being that has divine powers bestowed upon him. The

information that can be collected on Pythagoras is of great historical importance

due to how early of a record it is. Some believe this information to be accurate

while others think of it as mere legend.

Pythagoras was the founder of a philosophical and religious school in Croton,

which is a city on the east of the heel of Italy, where he wasthe head of a

society that had a circle of close, loyal followers called mathematikoi. The

mathematikoi never left the society, had no personal possessions and they were

all vegetarians. Pythagoras personally taught all the mathematikoi and shared

with them five strict beliefs. The first belief was "that at its deepest

level, reality is mathematical in nature." The second was "that philosophy

can be used for spiritual purification." The third being "that the

soul can rise to union with the divine." The fourth was "that certain

symbols have a mystical significance." The fifth and last was "that

all brother of the order should observe strict loyalty and secrecy."

There was also a not so strict group of followers known as the akousmatics who

only attended the society during the day. They were allowed to live in their

own homes, have personal possessions and were not required to be vegetarians.

Pythagoras and his followers were not the kind of mathematicians that you might

think of in our modern society at, say, a university where they set out to solve

great mathematical equations. Quite differently they only sought to understand

the principles of mathematics, the concept of number, the concepts of different

mathematical figures such as a triangle and the abstract idea of a proof.

Today with our use of pure mathematical abstraction it is said that it is quite

difficult to appreciate