دانلود کتاب The circulation of astronomical knowledge in the ancient world

Astronomical and astrological knowledge circulated in many ways in the ancient
world: in the form of written texts and through oral communication,
and by the conscious assimilation of sought-after knowledge and the unconscious
absorption of ideas to which scholars were exposed. The circulation
of knowledge happened both between cultures, for example the transmission
of astronomical texts, theories or parameters from one culture to another,
and within cultures, both spatially, for example, between scholars in different
cities, between “elite” and “popular” astronomical traditions, and between different
genres of scholarship, and temporally, for example later interpretations
of and reaction to earlier works. I use the term “circulation” deliberately here to
emphasize that the transmission of knowledge is not a unidirectional process:
astronomical knowledge from one group is not imposed upon another group;
rather the process is one of negotiation between the two parties. Furthermore,
the act of receiving knowledge almost always involves a process of adaptation
of that knowledge to make it relevant to and compatible with the existing scholarly
practices of the recipients.1
As discussed by Rochberg, pioneering work on the transmission of astronomical
knowledge between cultures was undertaken by members of Brown
University’s Department of History of Mathematics during the second half of
the twentieth and the first few years of the twenty-first centuries. Through
the work of Otto Neugebauer, Gerald Toomer, David Pingree, and others it has
become evident how much astronomical knowledge was transmitted between
Mesopotamia, Greece, India, the medieval Islamic World, and medieval and
Renaissance Europe. As recognized by Neugebauer, a particularly good marker
of transmission are precise numerical parameters used within mathematical
astronomy.2 The transmission of broader astronomical or astrological concepts
and methods can also be traced between cultures, but the evidence for transmission
is not always so clear cut and we must be wary of assuming transmission
where there are merely similarities in the tradition.3 When dealing
with celestial omens, for example, how similar must omens be to allow us to
conclude that they have been transmitted from one culture to another? In order
to answer this methodological question it is necessary to consider things such
as wider historical evidence for contact between the two cultures and possible
routes of transmission, the number of “similar” cases (a few similar omens may
simply be coincidence, a large number, especially if they share other features
such as order within a text, making transmission more likely), and whether the
similarities are unique to the cultures in question or whether similar material
exists from cultures where it is clear that there can have been no contact. The
papers by Rutz, looking at the transmission of Mesopotamian astral knowledge
to other parts of the near east in the late second millennium bc, Misiewicz, considering
the transmission of Mesopotamian lunar omens through the Greek
tradition into late antiquity, Montelle, examining the transmission of Babylonian
schemes for the rising times of the ecliptic to the Greek world, and Duke,
looking at the transmission of Greek astronomy to India, all address these questions.
Once knowledge is transmitted into a culture it then becomes adapted
and naturalized to its new cultural setting. Thus process has been studied in
detail by Sabra and others for cases of transmission between Mesopotamia,
the Greco-Roman World, India, the Islamic world and Europe.4 A less known
case is the transmission of western astrology from India to China during the
Tang dynasty and its subsequent “Sinicization”. The paper by Song provides a
detailed census and analysis of Chinese names and use of the twelve signs of the
zodiac and their assimilation within traditional Chinese forms of divination.
Niu provides a translation and study of a tenth century Chinese horoscope
found at Dunhuang which blends elements of western and Chinese astrology.
The circulation of astronomical knowledge within cultures sometimes
shares some of the same characteristics of adaptation and naturalization as
cross-cultural transmission. Geographically, texts may be rewritten to fit the
norms of local traditions, and a variety of factors including the desire of scholars
to retain power over astronomical activity through secrecy and restricting
access to material may result in only certain aspects of the astronomical tradition
circulating widely.