The Ancient Greeks lived around 3,000 to 2,000 years ago but they were astonishingly advanced in their thinking. Their achievements were extraordinary in every field, including philosophy, medicine, sculpture, architecture and mathematics. They gave us the idea of democracy, the Olympic Games, tragic and comic drama, the Hippocratic Oath for doctors, and so much more. Naturally, they also turned their keen minds to the mysteries of the universe.
The word cosmos, meaning the universe, came to us from ancient Greek. So did the word astronomy itself – astron means star and nomos means law or custom. So, astronomy means ‘the law of the stars’ or ‘the custom of the stars’.
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Circa or c. before a date means ‘about’ or ‘approximately’.
The astronomer Hipparchos (c.190-c.120 BC) listed the stars, dividing…
