“Multiple Sources of Data in Late Babylonian Astrology”

M. Monroe (University of British Columbia)

The astrological sources preserved on cuneiform documents from the Hellenistic period in Mesopotamia give evidence to creative and dynamic re-interpretation of earlier forms of scientific knowledge. Traditional forms of knowledge which had previously been contained within separate canonical streams of tradition were now modified and combined by the scholars of Uruk and Babylon into new and interesting configurations. This paper will look at the strategies behind this practice and suggest that explicit format and structure on the written medium facilitated the combination of these data sources.

The transition from linearly structured scientific data, i.e. lists of phenomena, to tabular layouts allowed the ancient scribes to articulate systems of knowledge that took advantage of multiple levels of reading and interpreting. The rows and columns of the astrological tables of this period provide a structure on which to hang diverse sets of data pulled from texts concerning medicine, religion, daily life, and other forms of divination. The cells of a table were positioned in relation to more points of data than previous lists of information.

The use of zodiac represents a paradigmatic shift and perhaps served as the initial impetus to re-organize these texts. The invention of zodiac facilitates developments in astronomy and astrology in the Late Babylonian period through its regularization of celestial locations. The mathematical formulation of certain zodiacal schemes of organization suggest a formulaic approach to the articulation of systems of knowledge during the Hellenistic period in Babylonia.

“Bruno, Galileo and the Heresy of the World Soul”

Alberto Martinez (University of Texas at Austin)

Several prominent early Copernicans believed that Earth is animated by a soul. I will show that this belief had been denounced as a heresy by various Christian authorities since antiquity, including Church Councils and treatises on heresies. Yet in the Renaissance it was defended by Giordano Bruno, William Gilbert, Kepler, and by Galileo's advocate, Tommaso Campanella. The Earth moved because of its soul. This pagan belief contributed to the Catholic opposition against the Copernicans. In the 1590s, Bruno's "Pythagorean doctrine" that a spirit animates the Earth, annoyed Inquisitors such as Cardinal Robert Bellarmine. Bruno's belief in the World Soul was one of the major heresies that led to his execution in 1600 by being burned alive. Subsequently, Cardinal Bellarmine rejected this belief several times. Yet in 1615, Galileo supported it. In 1616 the Congregation of the Index of Forbidden Books prohibited the "Pythagorean doctrine" that Earth moves. Moreover, immediately after Galileo's trial of 1633, Melchior Inchofer, the Jesuit theologian who provided the strongest critiques against Galileo for the Inquisition, vigorously condemned the Copernicans for the heresy of the World Soul-- in an extensive, unpublished manuscript. Inchofer insisted that this heresy had been condemned by the Church.

“British Imperial Network of Astronomy and Timekeeping in the Late Nineteenth Century”

YUTO ISHIBASHI (Chuo University)

This paper will examine the large-scale attempts for standardization and unification of time through the transplantations of time-dissemination technologies in the late-nineteenth-century British world. It begins by discussing the emergence of an imperial network of astronomical observatories established in some growing colonial cities in India, Canada, South Africa, Australia, and other regions. These institutions served for astronomical and meteorological observations, determination of longitude and latitude, terrestrial surveying, measurement of time, and other practices. Almost all these observatories were closely connected to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, from which they derived important information and advice through George Biddell Airy, Astronomer Royal. Airy’s notable influence can be seen elsewhere too in the management of colonial observatories, such as in the appointment of astronomers, selection of scientific instruments, and the devising of programs of observations. In particular, this scientific connection between the metropolis and colonies effectively operated in an effort to transplant time-signaling and horological technologies into colonial cities. This paper tries to illustrate how the latest knowledge and techniques for standardisation of time were transferred in the astronomical network, thereby contributing to the discussion relating to the close relationship between time-keeping and imperial expansions.