Greek astronomy is the astronomy of those who wrote in the Greek language in classical antiquity i.e. see Aristarchus of Samos Greek astronomer/mathematician and his heliocentric model of the solar system. Greek astronomy is understood to include the ancient Greek, Hellenistic, Greco-Roman, and Late Antiquity eras. It is not limited geographically to Greece or to ethnic Greeks, as the Greek...
The art of ancient Greece has exercised an enormous influence on the culture of many countries from ancient times until the present, particularly in the areas of sculpture and architecture. In the West, the art of the Roman Empire was largely derived from Greek models. In the East, Alexander the Great’s conquests initiated several centuries of exchange between Greek, Central Asian and...
The architecture of Ancient Greece is the architecture produced by the Greek-speaking people (Hellenic people) whose culture flourished on the Greek mainland and Peloponnesus, the Aegean Islands, and in colonies in Asia Minor and Italy for a period from about 900 BC until the 1st century AD, with the earliest remaining architectural works dating from around 600 BC. Ancient Greek architecture is...
The Antikythera mechanism is believed to be an ancient mechanical analog computer (as opposed to most computers today which are digital computers) designed to calculate astronomical positions. It was discovered in the Antikythera wreck off the Greek island of Antikythera, between Kythera and Crete, and has been dated to about 150-100 BC. It is especially notable for being a technological artifact...
In 329 BC in Central Asia Alexander the Great recorded two great flying silver shields, spitting fire around the rims in the sky that dived repeatedly at his army as they were attempting a river crossing. The action so panicked his elephants, horses, and men they had to abandon the river crossing until the following day. Alexander the Great, Megas Alexandros (July 20, 356 BC – June 10, 323...
The Alexander Technique teaches how to recognize and overcome habituated limitations within a person’s manner of movement and thinking. The first and most common limitation addressed is unnecessary muscular tension.The Alexander Technique is usually learned from an Alexander Technique teacher in one-on-one sessions by an Alexander student, using specialized hand contact and verbal...
Ale’s Stones (or Ales stenar in Swedish) is a megalithic monument in Scania in southern Sweden. It consists of a stone ship 67 meters long formed by 59 large boulders of sandstone, weighing up to 1.8 tonnes each. According to Scanian folklore, a legendary king called King Ale lies buried there. King Ale Ale the Strong (Heimskringla) or Ole (English: Ola), in Scandinavian legend, belonged to...
Alectryomancy is a form of divination using one or more birds, most preferably a white rooster or cockerel) pecking at grain (such as wheat) that the diviner has scattered on the ground. The diviner will randomly sprinkle grain on the ground and allow the birds to peck on it. When the birds have finished, the diviner will then interpret the patterns left on the ground. In another version, the...
Aldebaran is an orange giant star located about 65 light years away in the zodiac constellation of Taurus. With an average apparent magnitude of 0.87 it is the brightest star in the constellation and is one of the brightest stars in the nighttime sky. The name Aldebaran is Arabic and translates literally as “the follower”, presumably because this bright star appears to follow the...
Akkad (or Agade) was a city and its region of northern Mesopotamia, situated on the left bank of the Euphrates, between Sippar and Kish (located in present-day Iraq, ca. 50 km south-west of the center of Baghdad, 33.1° N 44.1° E). It reached the height of its power between the 22nd and 18th centuries BCE, before the rise of Babylonia. Akkad gave its name to the Akkadian language, reflecting use...