| The first meteorologists were the priests and | | | | rain and storms. |
| shamans of early civilisations. They were tasked with | | | | In Northern Europe the Norse god Thor, whose |
| appeasing the gods who, it was believed, controlled | | | | name originates from the Germanic word for thunder, |
| the climate and all natural phenomena. This was no | | | | was considered to be all powerful, and was |
| mean feat as you can imagine, and sometimes their | | | | represented carrying a hammer which symbolised a |
| very lives depended upon favourable weather. | | | | thunderbolt. People would appeal to Thor for |
| By 3500 BC Egyptian communities were well | | | | protection and he became a symbol of Norse |
| established along the Nile where the weather was | | | | paganism. Over time the growing influence of |
| warm and sunny, and water was abundant. However | | | | Christian missionaries demonized Thor and drove his |
| as this early cradle of civilisation was totally | | | | believers underground, where belief remained until |
| dependent on the Nile for its prosperity the Egyptians | | | | modern times. |
| tried to use the movement of the stars as a guide | | | | Ancient Greek mythology included many climatic |
| to the annual rise and fall of the Nile and to the | | | | controlling gods. Zeus, the ruler of the heavens, |
| extent of its flooding. | | | | controlled the clouds, rain and thunder. The brother |
| This dependence on the Nile led to the belief in two | | | | of Zeus was Poseidon, and he was the god of the |
| powerful gods. Osiris and Ra (or Re). Osiris was | | | | sea and shores. And yet another brother, Hades (aka |
| considered the ruler of the dead and the source of | | | | Pluto) ruled the underworld. The sun god was Helios, |
| fertility to the living, controlling the sprouting of | | | | and wind god was Aeolus. The Greeks had a more |
| vegetation and the flooding of the river Nile. Ra was | | | | casual approach to religion and this allowed the Greek |
| the sun god who controlled the movement of | | | | philosophers, who sought more rational explanations |
| heavenly bodies, travelling across the sky each day in | | | | for natural phenomena, to flourish. |
| his solar boat. | | | | Thales of Miletus (624-547 BC) collected records |
| Other early civilisations emerging at that time also | | | | from Babylonian astronomers and successfully |
| depended on the weather. The flooding of the Tigris | | | | predicted a solar eclipse in 585BC. Empedocles |
| and Euphrates in Mesopotamia and the Indus valley | | | | (495-435 BC) theorised that all matter was |
| were key for the survival and prosperity of the local | | | | composed from four elements: Fire, air, water and |
| communities. The chief god of the Babylonians was | | | | earth. |
| Marduk. Marduk was originally the god of | | | | Although these scholars made very few significant |
| thunderstorms but eventually became the god of the | | | | physical discoveries their work did initiate a practice |
| atmosphere. One of the most important gods of the | | | | of investigation and analysis for all natural |
| Vedic religion of ancient India was Indra, the god of | | | | phenomena, including, of course, the climate. |