https://beforeorion.com/precession-of-the-equinoxes-before-hipparchus/ Finding the Face of the Hero Wed, 27 May 2026 15:08:25 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://beforeorion.com/precession-of-the-equinoxes-before-hipparchus/#comment-15 Sat, 03 Jul 2021 05:26:14 +0000 http://beforeorion.com/?page_id=1448#comment-15 Hello Bernie, thanks for drawing my attention to your article on Hipparchus. As I recall (will re-check), Astronomy from Babylonia to Copernicus by William O’Neill argues that Hipparchus actually calculated the speed of precession correctly, but the incorrect degree per century idea (from Timaeus?) was accepted by Ptolemy and led later astronomers on a wild goose chase to explain why the speed seemed to change, with the false idea of ‘trepidation’. Another excellent source on ancient knowledge of precession is Norman Lockyer’s study of Egyptian temple star worship. It may be that ancient societies were aware of precession without accurate knowledge of its speed. The Pan-Babylonian school investigated these issues, with an attempted debunking by Neugebauer. I gave a talk last night that discussed these themes. Have you read The Myth of Babylonian Knowledge of Precession by Gary Thompson?
Thanks, Robert Tulip

]]> https://beforeorion.com/precession-of-the-equinoxes-before-hipparchus/#comment-4 Thu, 14 May 2020 02:48:18 +0000 http://beforeorion.com/?page_id=1448#comment-4 I appreciate your debunking of Hamlet’s Mill. Their proposed evidence did not stack up.
Thanks for setting the record straight. Is there more info out there on ancient astronomy?

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