Epicurus' Birthday 2023 - (The Most Comprehensive Picture Yet!)

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    "THE ELDER PLINY ON PHILOSOPHERS." MIRIAM GRIFFIN. Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies. Supplement. No. 100, VITA VIGILIA EST: ESSAYS IN HONOUR OF BARBARA LEVICK (2007), pp. 85-101 (17 pages)

    Excerpt p.91:

    Pliny 's philosophical stance

    There is not need here to describe and analyze the philosophical or quasi-philosophical views of the Elder Pliny, since that difficult task has been done very well by Mary Beagon and others.28 There is a consensus that Pliny is not an adherent of any one philosophical doctrine, but that his mental landscape features strong Stoic elements, notably on cosmology, non-anthropomorphic conception of the divine (with HN 2.14, cf. Sen. Nat. 2.45), the existence of divine Providence, and man's centrality in the universe. There is also a clear debt to Epicureanism, notably in the rejection of belief in the after life (HN 7.5), belief in astrology and various forms of divination (2.23-24, 2.28, 11.273), and, at one point, belief in direct providential concern for individuals (2.20): superstitions from which the rational study of nature can free us (2.54).

    (HN = Natural History)

    Okay, as a Christmas present to the forum, I've uploaded the "final" version of my 13-page paper presenting the reasons to accept that Epicurus was, in fact, born on the 20th day of the month of Gamelion:

    Ready for download. Hope you enjoy.

    For anyone interested, I just saw this lunar calendar for 2023 available online.

    2023 EarthSky Lunar Calendar
    A unique and beautiful poster-sized calendar. Keep up with all phases of the moon every night of the year! Check out our article! How to use EarthSky’s lunar…
    earthskystore.org

    I found it fascinating to see the phases all in one grid.

    PS. There's also a moon phase calendar at this site:

    Moon Phases 2023 – Lunar Calendar
    www.timeanddate.com

    Here is an interesting article on when you can see the new moon crescent, and in ancient times that would be the start of the month (and if I remember correctly the start of the day):

    What's the youngest moon you can see with your eye alone? | Space | EarthSky
    It has long been a sport for skywatchers to spot the youngest possible crescent moon after sunset, with the eye alone. What does it take to see a very young…
    earthsky.org

    For several years my son and I have looked at the moon most evenings that it's visible. This discussion of the lunar calendar has me intrigued as to what it might be like to tune in more closely to the lunar cycles as another way of being in nature. To that end, I found an app! Oh, the irony....

    At any rate, Daff Moon gets my vote as an excellent tool. I've been using it for a few weeks now; my favorite features are a chart showing the phases of the moon, and a "sphere" feature that shows the sun and the moon in a simple 3D view in relation to the ground plane at my location. It has lots more: the sun, the planets, orbits, if those are of interest. Two thumbs up!

    Downloaded Daff Moon. Very cool! I especially like - from an Epicurean perspective - that it gives the age of the moon at the bottom. Now, all I have to do is check when it turns over to 20 days and tahdah! It's the eikas... aka protera dekatē! ^^

    We might need to split off the "Daff Moon" appreciation society to a different thread, especially if we add many comments unrelated to Epicurus' birthday like i am about to make.

    Maybe I'll turn this into an "Astronomy Software" thread, because I just downloaded the Android app "The Sky Live" and it appears to be both totally free (and without advertising) and very usable for navigating the night sky.

    TheSkyLive - Apps on Google Play
    A complete guide to the Solar System and the night sky
    play.google.com

    In fact I do think I'll set up an "Astronomy Software" thread.....

    OK an "Astronomy Thread" is split off here:

    Thread

    Astronomy Software - For Moon Phases and General Night-Sky Navigation

    Admin Edit: This thread was split off from an earlier thread concerning Epicurus' Birthday. In this case I left a copy of the posts in the original location, but let's use this thread to discuss "Astronomy Software." I've previously intended to post about "orreries" (and maybe that exists somewhere, and I just can't find it at the moment). At any rate there's plenty of precedent for Epicureans being interesting in the night sky, so we can talk here about software or other technology to assist…
    Godfrey
    January 24, 2023 at 2:15 PM

    Please use the Astronomy Thread for general Astronomy or Software discussion, and we can keep this on focused on issues surrounding Epicurus' birthday and/or calculating dates by moon phases.

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