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Scientific Knowledge in Western Civilization

  • 1700 BCE

    Hittites' warrior innovations

    Hittites' warrior innovations
    The Hittites' warrior aristocracy fielded the most feared army during the bronze age and were quick to adopt the latest technology, including the chariot and eventually the use of iron for weaponry.
  • 1300 BCE

    The Birth of the Ugaritic Alphabet

    The Birth of the Ugaritic Alphabet
    The Ugaritic alphabet consisted of about thirty symbols representing the sounds of consonants. This would become the model for the development of all modern alphabets.
  • 800 BCE

    The Poet Homer

    The Poet Homer
    Homer, the poet credited with having woven together the mesh of stories that we know today as the Iliad and the Odyssey.
  • 600 BCE

    The Introduction of Zoroastrianism

    The Introduction of Zoroastrianism
    The founder was Zarathustra, known to the Greeks as Zoroaster. It was believed that light will not triumph over darkness until the Last Day when the of Ahuramazda vanquish those of Ahriman forever. This vision of the universe would prove influential, later informing the developing theologies of Christianity and Islam.
  • 399 BCE

    The Life of Socrates

    The Life of Socrates
    Socrates's goal as a Philosopher was to help human beings understand and apply standards of absolute good, rather than to master a series of mental tricks that facilitate personal gain at the expense of others. A democratic court ruled to put him to death because of Disloyalty to the polis, corruption of the youth, and denying the gods.
  • Period: 335 BCE to 280 BCE

    Herophilus of Chalcedon

    He began extraordinary advances in medicine. He was the first to practice human dissection.
  • 300 BCE

    Discovery of Euclid

    Discovery of Euclid
    Hellenistic mathematician was Euclid, whose Elements of Geometry remained the basic textbook of that subject until the twentieth century of our era.
  • Period: 287 BCE to 212 BCE

    Archimedes of Syracuse

    He discovered the law of floating bodies, or specific gravity, now known as "Archimedes principle."
  • Period: 276 BCE to 196 BCE

    Eratosthenes of Alexandria

    He calculated the circumference of the earth and was only off by a small margin of 200 miles. He also believed that it was possible to reach Asia by sailing west.
  • Period: 460 to 370

    The discoveries of Easistratus

    He made discoveries that established that the heart was a pump and not an organ of emotion. He also rejected the widely held theory of the physician Hippocrates.