Ancient Mathematics and Science: The Circle and Navigating by the Stars

"Oak and triple bronze must have girded the breast of him
who first committed his frail bark to the angry sea."
--Horace, Odes

In this ancient Babylonian map, the world is a circle with Babylon at its center. Ancient Babylonians were the first to divide the circle into 360 degrees (how we also got our 60 min / 60 sec clocks), and they may have been among the first to use the wheel.

As it turns out circular divisions were an important tool for sea explorations, and they were essential for the growth of many ancient civilizations. Read the student links at this Navigating by the North Star lesson plan. Because of its location, the North Star is a reliable landmark that can be used for determining one's location on the earth.

The bottom figure at left shows a photograph taken with the shutter left open. The "star swirl" occurs because the other constellations rotate around the fixed position of the North Star over the course of the evening.

Read about How a Sextant Works and build one here.

Would you know how to use it to determine your latitude? If you have an accurate clock set to Greenwich Mean Time, you can also calculate your longitude.

If you have Shockwave, you can play this game Escape from Antartica and see if you can find your way home like Ernest Shackleton.