It’s only relatively recently in history that we have relatively reliable methods for passing on knowledge. It is probable that all the “firsts” we know about were just the first occurrence that survived. It is probable that astronomical knowledge like this was discovered and forgotten and discovered over and over again, until finally it persisted.
Not just passing knowledge but having disparate regimes mutually value that same knowledge. Quite a shift happened between the times when the Romans would kill an Archimedes to what we’ve seen very recently in WWII where scientists would be spared even from the legal system due to the perceived value of their technical knowledge by the victors.
