Re: CHAT: Visible planets (was: Corpses)

On Monday, November 10, 2003, at 05:00 AM, John Cowan wrote:

> Isidora Zamora scripsit:
>
>> Now, I've got one more question...Is there any difficulty in identifying
>> the Morning Star and the Evening Star with each other.  Are they very
>> likely to think that they are two separate bodies rather than one?  (I
>> wouldn't know, because I have never really studied any astronomy.)
>
> It's possible.  Homer definitely does not know, in the 12th century B.C.E.
> ,
> that Hesperos and Phosphoros are the same thing.  Plato in about 350 B.C.
> E.
> definitely does; Pythagoras around 500 B.C.E. supposedly did as well.
> It's basically a question of having the correct insight rather than
> anything related to observation.
Yes, it seems the ancients generally had the correct insight. Certainly
when
the days of the week were named this was so.  We do never have separate
days
assigned to Hesperos and Phosphoros - just the one day assigned to Hermes/
  Mercury.

The days were named after the seven known 'planets', the ancients
numbering the sun
and moon among the planets, thus:
Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus & Saturn

Ray
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