ABSTRACT
The victor usually took everything and subjected the conquered to slavery, a practice that became extensive in all ancient civilizations. The most ancient civilization, the Sumerian, was based in Mesopotamia, the southern part of modern-day Iraq. Great buildings were constructed, including the Hanging Gardens, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Precession was discovered in the second century before Christ by Hipparchus, the most brilliant observational astronomer of ancient Greece. At the time of the ancient Greeks, the vernal equinox lay in Aries, so this constellation was labelled as the first sign of the zodiac and the vernal equinox is referred to as the first point of Aries. But the early developments in astronomy were fired more by practical and mystical rather than scientific considerations. In India, astronomy developed a little later than in China but in a similar fashion.
