Review: Ancient Meterological Optics by Richard Stothers

This blog has yet to jump into the more weighty elements of the field of Classics - so let us jump in with this blog's first article review:

In the new edition of the Classical Journal (vol. 105 no. 1) as published by CAMWS, there is a fascinated and well-researched article by Richard Stothers entitled: "Ancient Meteorological Optics." It is well known that the ancients looked to the skies and stars above for guidance - the persistence of astrology gives us an example. Mr. Stothers, employed by NASA, is kind enough to first provide us a layman's guide to meteorological optics, explaining the layers of the atmosphere and how the presence of certain particles in certain layers cause such effects as rainbows and coronae.

A brief aside here - Mr. Stothers is employed by NASA. It strikes me as the ultimate accomplishment when one, positioned at the forefront of technology, goes full circle and is published in a journal which exalts an ancient world devoid of such knowledge!

Rainbows are first discussed, and the two major ancient theories on their formation are supplied, that of Anaximenes (Stothers explains: "a rainbow is generated by the sun's white rays of light falling on an impenetrably thick, dark cloud..."), and that of Aristotle ("water droplets act as tiny mirrors that reflect color..."). He continues with halos, mock suns, streaks, and other signs in the sky (e.g.: the cross seen by Constantine). Each section is heavily annotated and filled with a succinct explanation of the various ancient theories from early to late antiquity.

He concludes that some meteorological progress was made by the ancient in their studies of these phenomena, but for the most part little actually was understood. The article is concise, and though presented by someone outside the field, fits right into the journal. My only objection would that actual passages be inserted into the article for examination, but this is forgivable given the otherwise outstanding nature of his research and findings.

Mr. Stothers has some other very cool articles under his belt, including: "Unidentified flying objects in classical antiquity," "Earthquake prediction in antiquity," and "The case for an eruption of Vesuvius in 217 BC." Were Pliny alive, I'm sure the two would get along well.