world history

A Sample of Bad Essay (Grade: 40/200)

Read Lindberg’s chapter “Science before the Greeks” and explain main

achievements in astronomy and mathematics in ancient Babylonian and

Egyptian civilizations.

Science Before Greeks

In early times, the people saw the stars and the other planets as religious

footholds that paved the way for how their country was to be shaped. The

Egyptians, for example, used astronomy to communicate and receive

direction from their gods. Along with the introduction of writing and with

the Egyptian and Babylonian people trying to develop their country, the

people wanted to gain more knowledge to further advance their country.

With the help of the Greek civilizations the societies were able to make their

own discoveries about astronomy and mathematics. The people of the

Egyptian and Babylonian societies were highly developed and paved the

way for how people of that era interpreted the astronomy and mathematics.

In the olden days they used the way of mouth to determine how the world

worked these were called oral traditions. These oral traditions allowed for

accounts of pre-modern civilizations to keep information of their past lives

and their common beliefs. When looking at the civilization of Babylonia

their achievements had been surprisingly large. With the use of oral

traditions, they spoke about their religion frequently as well as people who

held high place. In current times this person would be called a doctor or a

nurse, while in the olden civilization they would be known as the “medicine

man” for having such great skills. Those people would be revered in the

community as those who had gained divine power from their religion’s god.

With the wisdom of many past generations the “medicine man” would know

a fair amount of knowledge. Some small feats to us in today’s world but in

the past having any type of information about a poisonous plant or a rash

would be extremely vital to survival. Such as how much of the care the

wound needed, and this could even be an advance in mathematic. Other

civilizations had advanced and had gone past just oral traditions and began

to take written accounts of their daily lives. Such as the Egyptians as well as

the Babylonians. Looking at early times we can see that around 3000 BC the

Egyptian’s used hieroglyphics to remember information that was passed

down or historical events that had occurred. Writing set an easy path for

future descendants to learn from their victories and mistakes. These societies

tried to further their knowledge quickly and eventually this new written

language gave way to the introduction to math and other forms of science

along with the creation of a calendar. With the creation of the calendar the

All are non-sense!

None of these can be found

in Lindberg’s article.

Applying the modern

concept of “country” and

“using science for

development” in

communities of 3000 years

ago is absurd.

New definition of oral

culture: “In the olden

days they used the way

of mouth to determine

how the world

worked…”

Oral culture, writing, and

medicine were not in the

prompt.

people knew of the cycle of the seasons and were able to determine when it

was good to harvest crops and when to store food. This would allow for

their survival to turn into more of a convenience and they would continue to

look for technological advancements as well. Utilizing religion in all aspects

of life the Egyptian and Babylonian people saw the sun and the moon as

gods. Setting their calendars to how the sun and moon interacted with one

another, similar to how we see the solar and lunar eclipses the Egyptians and

Babylonians marked their created calendars. By doing so, the countries were

able to remember the days for when the sun was engulfed by the moon and

when the moon was covered by the sun. Looking forward we can see that

the Egyptians and Babylonians after learning mathematics from the written

words of the Greece they were able to investigate the study of medicine and

further keep their people safe. With the help of the previous growing Greek

societies, this gave the people of Babylonia and Egypt a way to advance

their society by using another’s works to their benefit. When looking at

Babylonia the people used mathematic gained from the Greek’s by creating

a form of Sexagesimal system. This system allowed for the telling of time as

well as how people use the base of 60 to determine the degree of a circle,

360º. While the Egyptians used the mathematics gained form the Greeks to

create decimals for more precise measurement this eventually led to the

calculation of circumference, surface area, and the volume a numerous

shape.

Looking at the two societies of Egypt and Babylonia, the great civilizations

were able to advance their technological knowledge forward using written

langue as well as the development of mathematics. With the help of the

Greeks, both societies were able to advance forward and make great feats

such as astronomy that helped create calendars as well as the advancement

of mathematics that help create formulas for precise calculations. Both

astronomy and mathematics allowed the two countries to surpass the

knowledge of the Greeks and become great nations on their own.

Religion was not in the

prompt.

Not enough explanation

about Babylonian and

Egyptian mathematics

and astronomy