The Song of Urania - Joe Antognini

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Episode 45: Looking Up Down Under

Season 1 · Episode 45

Saturday, August 24, 2024 • Duration 01:04:26

Aboriginal Australian societies are believed to be among the oldest continuous cultures on the planet. Some of their oral traditions appear to preserve a cultural memory of celestial events from multiple millennia in the past. Aboriginal Australians were also keen observers of the heavens and recognized phenomena both common and rare, from the solstices, to solar eclipses, to auroral sounds, and stellar variability.

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Episode 44: Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam Per Astra

Season 1 · Episode 44

Saturday, July 20, 2024 • Duration 01:01:35

In his second attempt, Matteo Ricci was able to gain access to the Forbidden City. Over the next century, the Jesuits came to surprising influence in China through their knowledge of European astronomy, though this journey was not without its perils.

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Episode 35: The Vedanga Jyotisha & Beyond

Season 1 · Episode 35

Friday, November 3, 2023 • Duration 31:44

We delve into the contents of the Vedanga Jyotisha, the earliest Indian text to deal explicitly with astronomy. Then we turn to early Hindu cosmology and their explanations for various celestial phenomena, from the phases of the Moon to solar eclipses. Lastly, we briefly cover the unique cosmology of the Jains.

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Episode 34: What Happened in Harappa

Season 1 · Episode 34

Saturday, September 30, 2023 • Duration 37:59

India developed one of the most advanced astronomies of any of the ancient cultures, even rivaling European astronomy in its accuracy by the 18th century. We look at how the geography of India influenced its history and then turn briefly to the little we know about the astronomy of the Harappan Civilization. Finally we end with the astronomy of the Rigveda.

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Episode 33: How the Moon Became Blue

Season 1 · Episode 33

Friday, September 1, 2023 • Duration 34:50

We take a break from the main narrative in honor of this month's blue moon and turn to a somewhat more frivolous topic — how the term "blue moon" came to mean the second full moon in a calendar month.

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Episode 32: All Along the Watchers of the Hour

Season 1 · Episode 32

Sunday, August 6, 2023 • Duration 57:12

This month we tour the astronomers of ancient Egypt from the Old Kingdom to the last native Pharaoh of Egypt just prior to Alexander's conquest. We look at how astronomers fulfilled their primary responsibility of keeping track of time during the night so that the priests could perform the appropriate rituals in the temple. Finally, we end our journey through Egypt with their calendar, arguably the most reasonable calendar any civilization has ever used.

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Episode 31: We Need to Talk About Khufu

Season 1 · Episode 31

Wednesday, July 5, 2023 • Duration 34:12

Before getting back into Egyptian astronomy proper, we start by looking at Nabta Playa, a site of megalithic activity in the Nubian desert during the late neolithic. Then we turn to the megaliths the Egyptians are best known for — the pyramids. The pyramids have remarkably precise alignments to the cardinal directions and the techniques the Egyptians used to set these alignments remains a mystery. Finally, we look at the largest of the pyramids, Khufu's pyramid, whose so-called ventilation shafts have a possible astronomical connection.

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Episode 30: Egypt in a Nut-Shell

Season 1 · Episode 30

Tuesday, June 6, 2023 • Duration 48:22

We turn to ancient Egypt, one of the oldest and most beguiling of the ancient civilizations. Egypt is particularly notable for the sheer conservatism of its civilization and changed little in more than two millennia. After a brief overview of its geography, history, and textual sources, we look at Egyptian conceptions of the creation, structure, and end of the universe.

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Episode 29: The Astronomy of Saharan and Sub-Saharan Africa

Season 1 · Episode 29

Wednesday, May 10, 2023 • Duration 51:00

The oldest plausible astronomical artifacts known are African, as are many of the oldest megaliths, around 10,000 of which dot the Sahara and whose orientations are astronomical in character. We then briefly survey some of the creation stories and sky myths from a number of the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa. Finally, we turn to a few of the more unique calendars in the region.

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Episode 28: The Stars in Stone

Season 1 · Episode 28

Friday, April 7, 2023 • Duration 53:30

We turn the clock back to the astronomy of the Paleolithic and Neolithic. Clues about humanity's interest in the heavens during the Paleolithic can be seen in linguistic, mythological, and archaeological evidence. In the Neolithic, groups of people constructed tens of thousands of megaliths across Europe, many of which had astronomical connections.

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The Song of Urania – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

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Apple Podcasts

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Shared links between episodes and podcasts

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Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

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The Song of Urania – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Similar podcasts and content

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify