The Great Year: From Ancient Observation to Modern Science

By Peta Oakes (Gaelic Mac Dubhdara)

The Great Year explores one of the most profound cycles in nature: the slow turning of the heavens through the precession of Earth's axis.

Measured not in ordinary years, but in vast celestial motion, the Great Year describes the gradual shifting of the equinoxes through the constellations. Traditionally estimated at approximately 25,920 years and refined by modern astronomy to around 25,770 years, this cosmic rhythm has been observed, interpreted, and transmitted across cultures for millennia.

This volume traces the development of the Great Year from its observational foundations in Mesopotamia through Greek and Roman thought, and across the cosmological systems of India, Mesoamerica, and China.

Bringing together history, astronomy, and philosophy, the book examines how ancient cultures recorded long term celestial change, how these observations were preserved and transformed, and how they were later explained through Newtonian physics and refined by modern scientific measurement.

Disciplined and evidence based, The Great Year is not a work of speculation, but of continuity.

From ancient observation to modern science, the turning of Earth's axis remains one of the clearest expressions of time on a cosmic scale.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1764592956
• ISBN13: 9781764592956
• Release Date: March 2026
• Publisher: Peta Oakes
• Length: 238 Pages
• Weight: 0.71 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.0" x 8.0"