Amazing Secret in Medieval Parchment... Found 'Sijo' Astronomer [Reading Science]

French Research Team Discovers Document Containing Constellation Observations Estimated from 190-120 BCE
Study Reveals Hidden Sentences on 10th-11th Century Parchment Background Preserved in Monastery
Manuscript Believed to Be Copy of Ancient Greek Astronomer Hipparchos' Research Results

Parchment held at Saint Catherine's Monastery in Egypt, published by a research team from Sorbonne University, France, in an astronomy journal.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] An astonishing treasure has been discovered in a medieval parchment found in a monastery in Egypt. What was thought to be an ordinary Christian manuscript was revealed to contain a faintly written list of constellations in ancient Greek in the background. Scientists believe this is likely the trace of Hipparchus, the 'first astronomer' who systematically observed stars and began calculating celestial movements for the first time in human history.

According to the international academic journal Nature on the 19th, a research team from the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) recently published a paper on this topic, which was featured in the Journal for the History of Astronomy.

The parchment studied in this research is a medieval manuscript held at the Monastery of Saint Catherine, affiliated with the Greek Orthodox Church, located on the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. Currently, most of the pages are owned by the Bible Museum in Washington DC, USA. The outer surface of the parchment contains Christian records written in Syriac between the 10th and 11th centuries. However, it was evident that this parchment was 'recycled,' meaning medieval monks erased previously written texts and wrote new ones over them.

Initially, scientists believed that another Christian text had been written underneath. In 2012, Peter Williams, a biblical scholar at the University of Cambridge, assigned students to study the manuscript, and in 2017, by chance, a student discovered a Greek phrase believed to be from the astronomer Eratosthenes, changing the situation. From 2017 onward, experts from the University of Rochester and others conducted intensive research using multi-image capture techniques and computer algorithm analysis.

As a result, nine sentences related to astronomy were discovered, and carbon isotope dating and handwriting analysis confirmed that they were transcribed around the 5th to 6th centuries. These included Eratosthenes' star origin myth and explanations of constellations, along with parts of a famous poem composed around the 3rd century BCE. Notably, additional research over the past two years revealed another page of sentences. A research team from Sorbonne University in Paris found that these sentences indicate the length and width of the 'Northern Crown constellation' and the coordinates of constellations located in the east, west, south, and north of the vast night sky. Based on this, they estimated that the astronomer who wrote these sentences observed the constellations around 129 BCE, which aligns with the active period of Hipparchus, presumed to be the 'first astronomer.'

This predates by far the records left by Claudius Ptolemy, an astronomer from Alexandria, Egypt, in the 2nd century, known as the oldest astronomical observation record to date. Ptolemy authored the astronomical book Almagest, which formed the basis of the geocentric model?where celestial bodies revolve around the Earth?that was accepted as truth for 1,200 years. However, throughout his book, he cites constellation observation data from Hipparchus, who was active 300 years earlier, between 190 and 120 BCE on the Greek island of Rhodes.

Accordingly, astronomers have been tracing the traces left by the 'first' but 'lost' progenitor of astronomy. The research team plans to continue further studies through investigations of parchments stored at the Monastery of Saint Catherine, leveraging advancements in imaging technology. A team representative stated, "Countless parchments are stored in major libraries only in Europe," adding, "This research result is just one fascinating example of the amazing discoveries that can be made from thousands of parchments."