Astrology and Astronomy in the Ancient World K. Lee Lerner scholar.harvard.edu/kleelerner kleelerner@alumni.harvard.edu This is a DRAFT COPY of an article subsequently published in the RUSA-award-winning Science and Its Times: Understanding the Social Significance of Scientific Discovery, edited by Neil Schlager and Josh Lauer, and published in eight volumes by Thomson Gale (now Cengage Gale) from 1999 to 2001. In 2018 Amazon added Science and Its Times to its "Best of History Books" collection. Overview The first records of systematic astronomical or astrological observation and interpretation lie in the scattered remains of ancient Egyptian and Babylonian civilizations. The earliest evidence of the development of astronomy and astrology -- in the modern world distinctive representatives of science and pseudo-science -- establish that they share a common origin grounded in mankind's need and quest to understand the movements of the celestial sphere. Moreover, evidence suggests a early and strong desire to relate earthly everyday existence to the stars and to develop a cosmology (an understanding of the origin, structure and evolution of the universe) that bound intimately bound human society to a coherent and knowable universe. Background The most primitive origins of both astrology and astronomy predate the human written record. There is abundant archaeological and artistic evidence that long before there were the stirrings of true civilization in ancient Egypt or Babylonia, the wondering tribes of man constructed elaborate myths and folk tales to explain the wanderings of the Sun, Moon and stars across the celestial sphere. In ancient Egypt, priests became the first practicing practical astrologers… ==Content Redacted== I am the original author of this title and its original publication is noted below my byline. Regardless, publisher's copyright restrictions apply to this content. To remain sensitive to those restrictions. only brief "fair use" selected passages of this work are published herein. Please also note that derivative copies of this work have been licensed to a number of academic resources (both books and online) over the years. Some of these derivatives have been updated by editors of those respective resources and my participation in such updating, while often the case, should not be assumed. Unlicensed or pirated copies of passages from this article may also exist in open online resources. If you have a scholarly interest in reading a complete copy of this work in its original form, please send a request to kleelerner@alumni.harvard.edu or along with a brief note outlining your current affiliation, interest, intended use, and any related questions. I will respond as soon as possible. Cheers, K. Lee Lerner. =================