IX. On the Development of the Astronomical Science 

 in the Ancient Orient. 



By 



Shinzo Shinjo, D. Sc, 

 Professor of C'osmical Physics, Kyoto Imperial University. 



Contents 



1. Introduction. 



2. The Lunar Calendar. 



3. The Ch'en or Standard Asterisms. 



4. The 28 hsiu Svstem and the Gnomon. 



The Ch''nn-ch''iit and Tso-chuan. 

 Foundation of the Calendar System. 

 The Star-catalogue of Shih-Shen. 

 Concluding Kemarks- 



1. Introduction. 



It is regrettable that the history of astronomy in the ancient 

 Orient is still buried in much obscurity in these days. To take only 

 a single instance of contrary opinions, we see, on the one hand, that 

 in the 11th edition of the Encyclopedia Britanica, the remote antiquity 

 of Chinese astoronomy is put forward as a hypothesis by the author, 

 who meations, though with hesitation, the much talked about and yet 

 suspected cases, of a solar eclipse which is thought to have been due 

 to be predicted by calculation at a date as early as the 22nd century 

 B.C., and also of an exact determination, by Chou-kung in the 12th 

 century B.C., of the obliquity of the ecliptic, giving a value 23°54' 

 3."15, closely coinciding with the value theoretically found by Laplace 

 for that date. On the other Jiand, Mr. lijima, a noted sinologue, is 

 of the opinion, and has repeatedly expressed it in many professional 

 j)apers, that the origin of Chinese astronomy goes only as far back as 

 the 4th century B.C., and that it most probably started its course 

 under the influence of the Hellenistic civilization, which he assumes 

 to have been imported into China subsequent to the time of Alexander's 

 Indian expedition (326-5 B.C.). 



Between these extremely divergent views, we must endeavor to 

 find out the true course, putting our steps always on a solid basis, 



