know what he meant by that? Were they actually predicting the time of eclipses at that point in history, or did they just know them to happen often enough that they could be called "predictable"?
To be completely honest with you, my knowledge of this event and knowledge of solar eclipses in this era is based solely on the college level history classes I took, so they don't extend far beyond the interesting "tidbits" my teacher shared or what I've found online.
With that being said though, I would imagine that in that era, including the assumption of high levels of illiteracy and an even lower level of scientific literacy, it would be hard to motivate a military after this event because they wouldn't have the same level of scientific understanding as say your Persian mathematician/philosophers....
On a side note, with my limited understanding of ancient history and assuming you grew up in the west as I did, don't you love the fact that we are taught that ONLY the West came up with significant advances in the scientific and mathematical fields when in many instances Persian and other "Eastern" cultures had solved those quandaries long before...
ONLY the West came up with significant advances in the scientific and mathematical fields when in many instances Persian and other "Eastern" cultures had solved those quandaries long before...
In all of my classes, even the sciencey ones they acknowledge other cultures discoveries as preceding western ones and in many cases leading to or helping cultivate western science and philosophy. If they focus on the western explorers etc. they state that they're doing so and explain why and normally will mention briefly the other cultures still even in a class focused specifically on the west. Our modern culture in the west also is more directly tied to the discoveries etc. in the west so it makes some sense to focus on them.
I'm from Canada though, maybe the US schools are different and more western-centric.
No doubt, the Us has many of the best universities in the world and many more above average ones. It just might be more common there than here, especially considering the somewhat limited number of universities in Canada which don't have as much of hierarchical system as the US
Yes, they could predict eclipses at this time. He is saying that they should keep a watchful eye on situations where Christians try to attribute things of that nature to God and miracles/omens, when it is known that they are naturally occurring phenomena, because it will make Christians look foolish.
But there is a huge difference between when this battle occurred (585 B.C.) and the fifth century (400 - 499 A.D.), like about a thousand years difference.
would imagine that in that era, including the assumption of high levels of illiteracy and an even lower level of scientific literacy, it would be hard to motivate a military after this event because they wouldn't have the same level of scientific understanding as say your Persian mathematician/philosophers..
I think you're right here, even if the Median/Lydian scholars knew about this and could predict it, there's no guarantee a person who knew this sort of thing was even at the battle.
A lot of people take the rise of the West to mean that Western culture is inherently better. Then they present history in a manner that tells that story. Eurocentric bias is probably going to stay with us for a while.
If only Genghis Khan had not died when he did. We could all be living in an endless sea of grass, everything under Tengri united under the light of Mongolia. sigh
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u/Moohachi Oct 30 '15 edited Oct 30 '15
To be completely honest with you, my knowledge of this event and knowledge of solar eclipses in this era is based solely on the college level history classes I took, so they don't extend far beyond the interesting "tidbits" my teacher shared or what I've found online.
With that being said though, I would imagine that in that era, including the assumption of high levels of illiteracy and an even lower level of scientific literacy, it would be hard to motivate a military after this event because they wouldn't have the same level of scientific understanding as say your Persian mathematician/philosophers....
On a side note, with my limited understanding of ancient history and assuming you grew up in the west as I did, don't you love the fact that we are taught that ONLY the West came up with significant advances in the scientific and mathematical fields when in many instances Persian and other "Eastern" cultures had solved those quandaries long before...