Tristan Hughes

It's amazing how, for someone who knows nothing about astronomy and needs to get out more of London and go somewhere very remote, like the Scottish Highlands, to actually have a look and do some stargazing, I guess how easy it is once an astronomer gets their eye in to understand what's a star and what's a planet and understand the differences. And did they name those planets as well?

It's amazing how, for someone who knows nothing about astronomy and needs to get out more of London and go somewhere very remote, like the Scottish Highlands, to actually have a look and do some stargazing, I guess how easy it is once an astronomer gets their eye in to understand what's a star and what's a planet and understand the differences. And did they name those planets as well?

You've said already Venus and Mars, but do we know what they named those planets?

You've said already Venus and Mars, but do we know what they named those planets?

You've said already Venus and Mars, but do we know what they named those planets?

The astronomers themselves, the people who were gathering that information for Kings, as you mentioned there, Moody, do we know much about themselves, about who those people were? Were they considered quite special, almost kind of communicating what the gods had supposedly written in the sky?

The astronomers themselves, the people who were gathering that information for Kings, as you mentioned there, Moody, do we know much about themselves, about who those people were? Were they considered quite special, almost kind of communicating what the gods had supposedly written in the sky?

The astronomers themselves, the people who were gathering that information for Kings, as you mentioned there, Moody, do we know much about themselves, about who those people were? Were they considered quite special, almost kind of communicating what the gods had supposedly written in the sky?

Sometimes they feel disrespected. That's so interesting. And also the fact that in some of the texts that you have, Moody, it's not just, as you say, the reports. There's no personal messaging in them. You have letters from... from astronomers themselves, from these court people themselves. So you can actually get a sense, almost like the Vindolanda tablets on the Roman frontier in Hadrian's Wall.

Sometimes they feel disrespected. That's so interesting. And also the fact that in some of the texts that you have, Moody, it's not just, as you say, the reports. There's no personal messaging in them. You have letters from... from astronomers themselves, from these court people themselves. So you can actually get a sense, almost like the Vindolanda tablets on the Roman frontier in Hadrian's Wall.

Sometimes they feel disrespected. That's so interesting. And also the fact that in some of the texts that you have, Moody, it's not just, as you say, the reports. There's no personal messaging in them. You have letters from... from astronomers themselves, from these court people themselves. So you can actually get a sense, almost like the Vindolanda tablets on the Roman frontier in Hadrian's Wall.

You get the actual voice of this figure who was living thousands of years ago.

You get the actual voice of this figure who was living thousands of years ago.

You get the actual voice of this figure who was living thousands of years ago.

letter like the one with the baby or the one as you say we have one astronomer slating off another for misidentifying those two planets it was almost as valuable if not more than the tablet we'll get to later which which says like alexander the great died on that day you know for completely different reasons but they're they're so interesting and and often you don't get those surviving in the archaeological record i'd like to ask one more question surrounding omens before we move on to that next stage that you hinted at earlier in this kind of development of astronomy

letter like the one with the baby or the one as you say we have one astronomer slating off another for misidentifying those two planets it was almost as valuable if not more than the tablet we'll get to later which which says like alexander the great died on that day you know for completely different reasons but they're they're so interesting and and often you don't get those surviving in the archaeological record i'd like to ask one more question surrounding omens before we move on to that next stage that you hinted at earlier in this kind of development of astronomy

letter like the one with the baby or the one as you say we have one astronomer slating off another for misidentifying those two planets it was almost as valuable if not more than the tablet we'll get to later which which says like alexander the great died on that day you know for completely different reasons but they're they're so interesting and and often you don't get those surviving in the archaeological record i'd like to ask one more question surrounding omens before we move on to that next stage that you hinted at earlier in this kind of development of astronomy

Which is also, you mentioned the word earlier, when talking about the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal and his astronomer Aedes, having these omen handbooks. Can you tell us a bit about these handbooks that they developed?

Which is also, you mentioned the word earlier, when talking about the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal and his astronomer Aedes, having these omen handbooks. Can you tell us a bit about these handbooks that they developed?

Which is also, you mentioned the word earlier, when talking about the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal and his astronomer Aedes, having these omen handbooks. Can you tell us a bit about these handbooks that they developed?