Bronze sculpture of the <n>Vergina Sun</n>, a royal symbol of the ancient Macedonian <n>Argead dynasty</n>.

A <n>Sumerian teaching tablet</n> from the <n>Library of Congress</n> collection.

Sumerians and later Babylonians were the first known civilizations to use what we now recognize as a lunisolar calendar.

By 21st Century BC, Sumerians had come up with a solar year consisting of 360 days. It was made up of 12 lunar cycles (354 days) which were rounded up to 360,…

An illustration of the <n>Zodiac Wheel</n>.

<n>Systema Ideale Pyrophylaciorum</n>, an engraving by <n>Athanasius Kircher</n> from his 1665 book <n>Mundus Subterraneus</n>.

<n>Diagram of the Macrocosm</n> by <n>Robert Fludd</n>, from his work <n>Utriusque Cosmi</n> (1617-21).

<n>Planisphere K.8538</n>, a <n>Neo-Assyrian</n> clay tablet from the 7th century BC, from the library of <n>Ashurbanipal</n>.

<n>La Genèse</n>, an engraving by <n>Robert Fludd</n> from his 1617 treatise, <n>Utriusque Cosmi</n>.

Engraving by <n>Johann Theodor de Bry</n> from <n>Robert Fludd</n>'s <n>Utriusque Cosmi Historia</n> (1617).

An 1802 engraving of the <n>Dendera Zodiac</n> by artist <n>Dominique Vivant Denon</n>.

<n>The Earth, Plate XXX</n> from <n>Thomas Wright</n>'s 1750 book, <n>An Original Theory or New Hypothesis of the Universe</n>.

The <n>Babylonian Map of the World</n>, also known as <n>Imago Mundi</n>, a clay tablet from c. 600 BC.

An <n>Aztec Calendar Stone replica</n> being carved for the <n>1964 New York World's Fair</n>.

The <n>Phaistos Disc</n>, a Minoan artifact of fired clay from the 2nd millennium BC. Photo by <n>C messier</n>.

The <n>Aztec sun stone</n> in Mexico City, 1886. Photo by <n>New York State Archives</n>.

<n>Planispheric Astrolabe</n> (c. 1214) by <n>Muhammad ibn al-Khuttuli al-Asturlabi</n> from the <n>Khalili Collection of Islamic Art</n>.

The <n>Sumerian Planisphere</n> (K.8538), a Neo-Assyrian clay tablet from the 7th century BC. Courtesy of the <n>British Museum</n>.

<n>The Moon—An Expired Planet</n>, an 1898 illustration by <n>Agnes Giberne</n>.

Engraving of a magnified gourd root from *<n>The Anatomy of Plants</n>* (1680) by <n>Nehemiah Grew</n>.

<n>Ovipositor of female fly</n>, an illustration by <n>Martin Frobenius Ledermüller</n> from 1762.

An <n>Armenian Copper tinned tray</n> dated 1707, featuring an inscription of the name <n>Apraham</n>.

TFG