Astronomy
Hipparchus makes the first star map, calculates the correct distance of the Moon from Earth, and observes the precession of the equinoxes, a wobble of Earth's axis that revolves once every 26,000 years. His lunar distance, which is sensibly given in terms of maximum and minimum possible figures as between 59 and 671/3 Earth radii (the actual average distance is 60 Earth radii), is based on close observations of eclipses and a geometric model that relates the size of the disks covering each other. See also 300 bce Astronomy; 300 ce Astronomy.
CommunicationHistorian Polybius [b. Arcadia, Greece, c. 200 bce, d. c. 118 bce] describes communication by means of fire signals. See also 430 bce Communication.
MaterialsSilver is so rare and costly in Rome that a visiting delegation from Carthage entertained by all the richest families in Rome encounters the same set of silver dinnerware each night.
A large decorated silver bowl 70 cm (27 in.) in diameter, now known as the Gundestrup Cauldron, variously claimed as Germanic, Celtic, and Thracian and dated from some time in the century prior to this date, depicts such enigmatic figures as a man wearing a torc (neck ring) and antlers, elephants, and a woman flanked by birds. It may have been made from melted Persian coins by craftspersons of a separate ethnic group, similar in some ways to present-day Roma (Gypsies).
TransportationFirst science fiction writer Lucian of Samosata [b. Samosata (Samsat, Syria), c. 125 ce, d. c. 180 ce] describes in True History a Greek ship that travels to the Moon by winds and waterspouts and later in Icaro-Menippus a hero who flies to the Moon via wings removed from large birds. Notably, Lucian envisions the Moon, the Sun, and also the planets as bodies where creatures live, not unlike Earth.
