Meton of Athens
Meton of Athens | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | Greece |
Nationality | Greek |
Occupations | Mathematician, astronomer, geometer, engineer |
Meton of Athens (Greek: Μέτων ὁ Ἀθηναῖος; gen.: Μέτωνος) was a Greek mathematician, astronomer, geometer, and engineer who lived in Athens in the 5th century BC. He is best known for calculations involving the eponymous 19-year Metonic cycle, which he introduced in 432 BC into the lunisolar Attic calendar. Euphronios says that Colonus was Meton's deme.[1]
Work
The
The world's oldest known astronomical calculator, the
The foundations of Meton's observatory in Athens are still visible just behind the podium of the Pnyx, the ancient parliament. Meton found the dates of equinoxes and solstices by observing sunrise from his observatory. From that point of observation, during the summer solstice, sunrise was in line with the local hill of Mount Lycabetus, while six months later, during the winter solstice, sunrise occurs over the high brow of Mount Hymettos in the southeast. So from Meton's observatory the Sun appears to move along a 60° arc between these two points on the horizon every six months. The bisector of the observatory's solstitial arc lies in line with the Acropolis. These topological features are important because the summer solstice was the point in time from which the Athenians measured the start of their calendar years. The first month of the new year, Hekatombaion, began with the first new moon after the summer solstice.[4]
Meton appears briefly as a character in
What little is known about Meton is related by ancient historians. According to Ptolemy, a stela or table erected in Athens contained a record of Meton's observations, and a description of the Metonic cycle.[5] None of Meton's works survive.
Notes
- ^ Suda Encyclopedia, §mu.801
- ^ Wright, M.T. (2005). "Counting Months and Years: the Upper Back Dial of the Antikythera Mechanism". Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society. 87 (December): 8–13.
- S2CID 4424998.
- ^ Hannah, R. 'Greek and Roman Calendars'. London: Duckworth, pages 52-55.
- Archive.org.
References
- Archive.org.
- Pannekoek, A. "Planetary Theories – the Planetary Theory of Kidinnu." Popular Astronomy 55, 10/1947, p 422