Stairway to the Stars: Skywatching in Three Great Ancient Cultures

by Anthony F. Aveni

Book Overview

For many ancient societies, the movements of the sun, moon, stars, and planets constituted an elaborate language, expressing the intentions of the spiritual forces they believed ruled the world. With little or no technology, these ancient cultures made remarkably detailed astronomical observations and developed intricate belief systems around them. Join critically acclaimed author Anthony Aveni, one of the founding fathers of the study of ancient...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471159425
• ISBN13: 9780471159421
• Release Date: April 1997
• Publisher: Wiley
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.4" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

worthwhile, a little complex in places

I came to the book as a part of a quick study on the origins of the 7 day week with particular regards to the Sabbath and the questions i have surrounding it. I like the author's style of writing, comprehensiveness and scientific mindset, so much that i started his Empires of Time this morning. I think i read these two books in the wrong order, i'd recommend reading empires first and then this book. there are a few places that background information would have made stairways a bit easier to understand and perhaps flow a bit smoother. I appreciate the author's expertise and ability to made difficult ideas understandable while at the same time explain what went into his thinking so that i can recapitulate from his data and perhaps understand his reasoning from the inside out. it is a field a bit confused by sloppy thinking and bad pseudoscience like astrology and numerology and i really appreciate his desire to present the best science and not speculate further than the data extends, a refreshing feeling after scanning lots of trash while getting the basic info for my study. he must be an excellent teacher.

A new look at the stars

One of my earliest memories is of lying on my back in the snow, just looking up at the stars. I've long since lost the ability to look at stars through the eyes of a child, but Anthony Aveni's book, Stairways to the Stars, has given me a whole new way of looking at them. For ancient cultures, the night sky was an ever-present companion. They used it as both calendar and augur, to track and predict the seasons, foretell the future, and understand the present. But the night sky we see is strongly dependent on where we live. The stars and stellar events (such as eclipses) that we see change, depending on where we see them from. In a society based on the sky, how much of the sky you can see (and what's in it) becomes critical. So what the Mayans chose to focus on will be different from what the Celts considered important. And that may have had far-reaching effects on their society. From charts of the planet Mars in ancient Mayan codexes to the role of Stonehenge as an observatory, watching the skies left lasting, tangible effects on societies. It's an interesting, thoughtful book. I enjoyed it, even though it's not an overwhelmingly easy read. Certainly there are times when it feels like a textbook (and the section of exercises at the end certainly doesn't hurt that sense). If you're a beginning stargazer, I'd suggest something a bit more straightforward. But if you've been looking up at the night sky for years ... or if you're interested in ancient societies, I think you'll probably find this book well worth your time. For more reviews, check out my web page at exn.ca/printedmatter