2.1 Babylonian Cosmology
Babylonian astronomers recorded detailed star catalogs and began studying philosophy dealing with the ideal nature of the universe, which formed the first scientific revolution that was adopted in Greek and Hellenistic astronomy. According to the historian A. Aaboe, fragments of Babylonian astronomy records have survived in the form of clay tablets with ephemerids and procedure texts show that their astronomy was “the first and highly successful attempt at giving a refined mathematical description of astronomical phenomena”. He also acknowledged that “all subsequent varieties of scientific astronomy, in the Hellenistic world, in India, in Islam, and in the West if not indeed all subsequent endeavor in the exact sciences depend upon Babylonian astronomy in decisive and fundamental ways.” Aaboe (1974).
The Babylonians view the cosmos as revolving around circularly with the heavens and the earths being equal and joined as a whole, and they also believed in seven heavens and seven earths linked chronologically to the creation by seven generations of Gods.
Babylonian and Chaldean astronomers kept systematic diaries recording various ominous phenomena, which allowed them to discover the repeating lunar eclipses and predict the revolutions of planets. Along with that, they created sophisticated mathematical models that allowed them to predict these various interfering cycles. For example, they discovered that the Sun’s motion along the ecliptic was not uniform, and recorded many other accurate astronomical observations.