Читать книгу Astronomy: The Science of the Heavenly Bodies - David P. Todd - Страница 5

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Who were the first astronomers? And who wrote the first treatise on astronomy, oldest of the sciences?

Questions not easy to answer in our day. With the progress of archæological research, or inquiry into the civilization and monuments of early peoples, it becomes certain that man has lived on this planet earth for tens of thousands of years in the past as an intelligent, observing, intellectual being; and it is impossible to assign any time so remote that he did not observe and philosophize upon the firmament above.

We can hardly imagine a people so primitive that they would fail to regard the sun as "Lord of the Day," and therefore all important in the scheme of things terrestrial. Says Anne Bradstreet of the sun in her "Contemplations":