E.C. Krupp, director of the Griffith Observatory, surveys how ancient societies across Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Americas, Britain, China and elsewhere read the sky as religiously and politically meaningful, from Stonehenge's solstice alignment to the Mesopotamian identification of Ishtar with Venus to Chinese sky bureaucracy. A foundational general-audience synthesis of archaeoastronomy, still cited across the field it helped popularize.
Facts
Assessment
Reliability Tier1
Krupp is a professional astronomer and observatory director writing a synthesis for a broad audience, and the book is the standard general introduction to archaeoastronomy still assigned and cited decades after publication. Used here for its cross-cultural sweep; specific claims are checked against the type-specific scholarly sources this atlas separately cites for each tradition (Rochberg for Mesopotamia, the Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt for Egypt) rather than relied on alone. NotesCited for the Astral Religion discipline entry's cross-tradition framing.
Citation
AuthorE.C. Krupp
PublisherHarper & Row
Publication Year1983
Source TypeBook (scholarly)
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Americas directly: "across Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Americas, Britain, China and elsewhere read the sky as religiously and politically meaningful, from Stonehenge's solstice alignment to the Mesopotamian identification..."
This source names China directly: "Egypt, the Americas, Britain, China and elsewhere read the sky as religiously and politically meaningful, from Stonehenge's solstice alignment to the Mesopotamian identification of Ishtar with Venus..."
This source names Egypt directly: "ancient societies across Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Americas, Britain, China and elsewhere read the sky as religiously and politically meaningful, from Stonehenge's solstice alignment to the..."
This source names Mesopotamians directly: "E.C. Krupp, director of the Griffith Observatory, surveys how ancient societies across Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Americas, Britain, China and elsewhere read the sky as religiously and politically..."
Venus, Deities This source names Venus directly: "identification of Ishtar with Venus to Chinese sky bureaucracy."
Claims Backed By This Source (21 claims)
This source backs 21 claims across the atlas. As facts: 14 well-attested. As cited relationships: 5 holds. Plus 2 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Sources, 12 claims: 7 well-attested, 5 holds.
- Disciplines, 5 claims: 4 well-attested, 1 general references.
- Articles, 4 claims: 3 well-attested, 1 general references.
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