CHAPTER IX. SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE AMONG THE ROMANS. But the
Greeks, after all, were the only people of antiquity who
elevated astronomy to the dignity of a science. They however
confessed that they derived their earliest knowledge from the
Babylonian and Egyptian priests, while the priests of Thebes
asserted that they were the originators of exact astronomical
observations. [Footnote: Diod., i. 50.] Diodorus asserts that
the Chaldeans used the Temple of Belus, in the centre of
Babylon, for their survey of the heavens. [Footnote: Diod., ii.
9.] But whether the Babylonians or the Egyptians were the
earliest astronomers, it is of little consequence, although the
pedants make it a grave matter of investigation. All we know is,
that astronomy was cultivated by both Babylonians and Egyptians,
and that they made but very limited attainments. The early Greek
philosophers, who visited Egypt and the East in search of
knowledge, found very little to reward their curiosity or
industry; not much beyond preposterous claims