Astronomy is the oldest of the physical sciences. Ancient astronomy has its origins in the religion, mythology, and astrology practices of prehistory. Astrology is still based in those traditions. Ancient astronomy involved observing the regular patterns of the motions of visible celestial objects, especially the Sun, moon, and stars and unaided eye planets. Early astronomy usually involved the studying of the Sun and Moon to predict when to planet crops and hold rituals.
Early cultures identified celestial objects with their gods and spirits. Ancient astronomy linked these events to phenomena such as rain, drought, seasons, and tides. It is generally believed that the first astronomers were priests, and that their understanding of the heavens was seen as divine. This gives ancient astronomy’s connection to what is now called astrology. Ancient structures like Stonehenge probably fulfilled both astronomical and religious functions.
The ancient calendars of the world have usually been set by the Sun and Moon and were of importance to agricultural societies, in which the harvest depended on planting at the correct time of year. The most common modern calendar is based on the Roman calendar, which divided the year into twelve months of alternating thirty and thirty-one days apiece. In Julius Ceasar instigated calendar reform and adopted a calendar based upon the 365 ΒΌ day year originally proposed by 4th century BC Greek astronomer Callippus.
The true change from ancient astronomy to modern astronomy was started with the work of Nicolaus Copernicus, who proposed a heliocentric system, in which the planets revolved around the Sun and not the Earth. He provided a full mathematical discussion of his system, using the geometrical techniques that had been traditional in astronomy since before the time of Ptolemy. His work was later defended, expanded upon by Galileo and Kepler.
There is a nice article on the history of astronomy here. Universe Today has a great article on the history of the stars. Astronomy Cast offers a great episode about the passage of time
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