The Amazing Astronomers of Ancient Rome

Over 2,000 years ago, astronomers knew the Earth was round, measured its diameter and distance from the sun, created an accurate star map with magnitudes, knew the length of the year to the precision of our modern calendar, and developed a method for predicting eclipses. Discover how the Pantheon is an astronomical instrument, how Eratosthenes measured the Earth’s circumference, how the Saqqara Step Pyramid depicts the turning stars, who first said that the Earth orbits the sun, and who created the Antikythera Mechanism with dials and gears to predict motions of the sun, moon and planets.

The Amazing Astronomers of Ancient Rome is a journey of discovery from the Pantheon to the Library of Alexandria, the streets of Leptis Magna, a special statue in Naples, a ship on the Mediterranean and a pyramid in Egypt. All reflect the wisdom of ancient astronomers.