| inferior planets | superior planets | synodic period |
| opposition (opposite sun or other) | conjunction (in line with sun or other) | sidereal period |
| elliptical orbit (variable speed) | angular diameter (or size) | degree |
| vernal equinox (a place and time) | autumnal equinox (Sept. 21) | summer solstice (June 21) |
| winter solstice (Dec. 21) | altitude | declination |
| obliquity (tilt of rotation axis) | line of nodes | |
| sidereal month | synodic month or lunation (29.5 days) | draconic month |
| total eclipse | partial eclipse | annular eclipse |
| umbra | penumbra | Saturn |
| celestial equator | celestial poles | precession |
| Tropic of Cancer (+23.5 degrees) | Tropic of Capricorn (-23.5 degrees) | zenith and nadir | Arctic circle (+66.5 degrees) | Antarctic circle (-66.5 degrees) | tropical year (365.24 days) |
| retrograde motion of planet | elongation | heliacal rising |
| occultation | Milky Way | Pleiades |
| Orion | comets | supernova |
| lunar phases | Sirius | Polaris |
| circumpolar | refraction | extinction |
| lunar standstill | regression of lunar orbit (18.61 years) | saros cycle (18.03 years) |
| Venus synodic period (584 days) | inclination of moon's orbit to ecliptic (5 degrees) | Metonic cycle (19 years) |
| lunar eclipse interval -- | (usually 6 lunations or 177 days, sometimes 5) | sidereal year |
| commensurable periods | superior conjunction | inferior conjunction |
| Julian calendar | Gregorian calendar | Origin of weekday names |
| Mesopotamia (Land between rivers) | Old Babylonian math (1800 BC) | cuneiform |
| clay tablets | sexagesimal system | sexagesimal fractions |
| e.g., 3,23=203 | 3;14=3 7/30 | 2,0;30=120.5 |
| early Venus observations | Ammizaduqa tablet (Venus) | ominous phenomena |
| zodiac | ush = degree and `longitude' | she and `latitude' |
| positions in ecliptic coordinates | Mul Apin tablet (700 BC) | intercalation, intercalary month |
| Seleucid era (300 BC - AD 75) | 3 problems of `first' lunar visibility | ecliptic angle at horizon |
| `goal-year text' | zig-zag function | eclipse prediction |
| anomalistic month | extispicy | divination |
| Anu, Enlil, Ea |
| pyramids c. 2500 B.C. | Thuban | shafts in Great Pyramid |
| accurate alignment of pyramids | precession and alignment | Sirius and the Nile |
| calendar for festivals | civil calendar of 365 days | papyrus |
| decans | Orion, Big Dipper | sun god - Ra or Re |
| star clock | hours of the night rituals | hours of day (24 hours) |
| circumpolar stars (immortality) | Dendera ceiling |
| Homer and Hesiod (800 BC) | role of geometry, trigonometry | Antikythera mechanism |
| Athens vs. Alexandria | Babylonian influence | constellation names |
| Ptolemy |
| Mithra and Perseus | tauroctony and precession | constellations on equator |
| Hipparchus - precession (128 BC) | torchbearers and equinoxes |
| month begins at crescent moon | 12 month calendar | time of prayer |
| direction of Mecca | names of stars |
O. Neugebauer, The Exact Sciences in Antiquity, Dover, 1969.
Chapter I, Numbers
p. 14 (section 11) through the top of p. 21
Chapter II, Babylonian mathematics
p. 29 to top of p. 31
Chapter III, The sources: their decipherment and evaluation
p. 53 to bottom p. 62, although you can skip the parts on Greek science
Chapter V, Babylonian astronomy
p. 97 to middle of p. 121
Chapter IV, Egyptian mathematics and astronomy
pp. 71 - 72, bottom p. 78 to the end of chapter
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David Ulansey, The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries, Oxford, 1991.
Chapters 1-6 (to p. 94)
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Course Notes on Bablylonia, Egypt