they could not possibly have acquired on their own so is there evidence to show that a good deal of their knowledge was of no practical use to them this pertains not only to the very sophisticated astronomical methods that were used who in ancient Sumer really needed to establish a celestial equator for example but also to a variety of elaborate texts that dealt with the measurement of distances between stars one of these texts known as a oh six four seven eight lists the 26 major stars visible along the line we now call