Western Civilization I / Unit 1 WC1 0010 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Mesopotamian Science: Stars, Wheels, and Sixty
Captions available
The idea
Mesopotamians were the first astronomers, charting the stars for omens and calendars. They built wagons and chariots, engineered irrigation, and gave the circle three hundred sixty degrees and the minute sixty seconds. Their arithmetic underlies later Mediterranean mathematics.
In practice
Divination and astronomy were one enterprise to them.
Where people slip
Do not separate their magic from their science. They did not.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
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