Bharatiya Jyotihshastra (History of Indian Astronomy), translated by R. V. Vaidya v2.c12.s5.41

v2.c12.s5.41

It would not be irrelevant to say something here about the ancient methods of observations of the Westerners.† The Chaldeans, to whom the origin of astronomy is usually ascribed by European scholars, do not seem to have attained any excellence in this important department of the science. Their observations of eclipses of the moon, as cited by Ptolemy†† are as rude as can possibly be imagined. The time is expressed only in hours, and the quantity eclipsed in terms of the half & quarter of the moon’s diameter. Herodotus states that the Greeks were indebted to the Babylonians for the pole, the gnomon and the division of the day into twelve hours. The pole seems to have been