Measurement systems for mathematics and astronomy in antiquity. Ptolemy’s chord calculation and new considerations concerning the “discus in planitia” ascribed to Aristarchus. Part I
Volume 10 (2008): Astronomy and Cosmology in Folk Traditions and Cultural Heritage, pp. 215–219
Pub. online: 20 December 2008
Type: Article
Open Access
Open Access
Received
2 November 2007
2 November 2007
Revised
30 November 2008
30 November 2008
Published
20 December 2008
20 December 2008
Abstract
The aim of this work is to present new hypotheses concerning a great disk of andesite – approximately 7 m in diameter – which was discovered in Meridional Carpathians in Romania on the sacred terrace of the capital of the ancient kingdom of the Dacians. Having included in this structure all the specific features of a sun dial, the place’s latitude φ, the obliquity of the ecliptic in epoch ε, as well as a north–south orientation, is possible and probable that this is the “discus in planitia” that Vitruvius ascribed to Aristarchus.