Plutarch and The Moon
Questions the Ancient Greeks asked about the Moon
What is the Moon made of? How does it not fall into Earth? What holds it up? What are the strange light and darker shades that we see on it? How far is it from Earth? Is there any life on it? Why does it sometimes appear higher in the sky and sometimes lower? Why does it sometimes appear in the daytime?
The ancient Greeks and Romans were as keen to discuss these questions as the astronomers of just five hundred years ago were. We now know the answer to all these questions, yet it was only a couple of hundred years ago when the question of whether there are or were people or beings similar to ourselves living on the Moon was still being asked.
What did the general public think?
Ancient texts give us some idea about what astronomers and philosophers thought, but what is difficult to find out is what the general public thought. In our own culture today, people tend to go along with what the latest scientific idea is, and while there will always be those who do not, sometimes with justification, the main media tends to report on what respected scientists say. There is an overall trust in scientists’ research, books and collaboration with other scientists.
The question is, was the ancient Greco-Roman culture the same? Did they have an overall trust in their…
