Although the Babylonians did not contribute to cosmology, their astronomy is of great interest because the 1ASTRONOMY data they accumulated would later be of the 2MOST importance in the development of Greek geometric astronomy and cosmology. The 3EMERGE of Babylonian astronomy was preceded many centuries earlier by the appearance of a very advanced mathematics, documented in cuneiform clay tablets dating back to 1700 B.C. and earlier. This mathematics was based on a base-60 positional 4NUMERATE system and contained solutions to quadratic 5EQUATE and algorithms to compute the square roots of numbers. Although there was some interest in geometry, the Babylonians 6EMPHASIS the arithmetic and algebraic parts of mathematics. There was during this older period, 7COMPARE development of astronomy in even its most 8RUDIMENTS empirical form. It was only much later, beginning around 600 B.C. that sophisticated numerical astronomy was cultivated.