The Babylonian World - Historia Antigua

— Mesopotamian astral science —
reveal that highly accurate astronomical systems had been devised in Babylonia that
could be both logically consistent (e.g. the System A lunar ephemerides), and be
adapted in an ad hoc manner as a (probable) consequence of empirical feedback (e.g.
System B of the lunar ephemerides). The schemes adhered to accepted notions as to
the manner in which the year should be divided (i.e. the 360 degrees in the zodiac
recall the 360 days in the ideal year), months should be divided (in the planetary
ephemerides, a thirtieth-of-a-month unit was employed, which mirrors the ideal
month), and the way change could be modelled using piece-wise linear techniques
(Brown 2000: 239). Even in the most sophisticated of mathematical astronomical
texts, many links with the ancient, highly esteemed art of celestial divination were
preserved. A lack of physical underpinning does not seem to have dented their appeal
in antiquity. Nor should it now.
FURTHER READING
Britton and Walker 1996 offer a superb, concise summary of Mesopotamian astral
science. Koch-Westenholz’s 1995 slim book on astrology is excellent and accessible.
Neugabauer 1975 devoted Book II to a detailed elucidation of cuneiform astronomy,
though data on the long-lasting utility of Babylonian astronomical methods can be
found scattered throughout that magnum opus. Hunger and Pingree 1999 is a thorough,
accurate survey of all publications on cuneiform astronomy, as defined by them,
at times strictly for the specialist. Brown 2000 attempts to place the development
of predictive astronomy, as opposed to the mere ordering of the heavens, or calendrics,
within the context of cuneiform celestial divination and Mesopotamian history.
Rochberg 2005 is devoted (mainly) to contextualising the rise of personal predictive
astrology in Babylonia after c.450 BC and to placing cuneiform astronomy-astrology
within the context of the history and philosophy of science. The above does provide
an overview of the sources from ancient Iraq that pertain to astral concerns, but is
concerned rather more with those aspects of this field that strike me as the most
interesting, the least written about, and the hardest for the non-specialist to appreciate.
NOTES
1 I use the term in the literal sense, as ‘wanderers’, corresponding to the Sumerian mul udu.idim
and Akkadian bibbu, or ‘wild sheep’ (Horowitz 1998: 153).
2 According to ETCSL 4.15.2 (Nergal B): 16, Nergal ‘travels through heaven’, suggestive of
Mars, with whom Nergal is later closely associated. In ETCSL 4.31.1 (Hymn to Sˇ ul-pa-e): 1,
Sˇ ulpae ‘shines forth like moonlight’, a probable reference to Jupiter.
3 The Sumerian text ETCSL 5.6.3 9(The Farmer’s Instructions): 38 ud mul-an-na sˇu im-ma-abdu
7-a-ta (39) 10-am 3 a 2 gud a-sˇag 4 zi-zi-da-sˇe 3 igi-zu nam-ba-e-gid 2-I ‘When the constellations
in the sky are right, do not be reluctant to take the oxen force to the field many times.’ Cf.
also ETCSL 5.5.5 (The Song of the Ploughing Oxen).
4 Sˇ amasˇ, the Sungod, Sîn, the Moongod and Kakkabu ‘star’ appear in the earliest Semitic
incantations from Ebla, in Syria (Cunningham 1997: 18).
5 Brown 2000: 246–7, §3. Additionally, Inana is a ‘celestial sign’ according to the translation
of ETCSL 4.07.04 (Hymn Inana D): 6. She is also referred to as dilibat in ETCSL 2.5.3.1 (Iddin-
Dagan A): 135. Dilibat is specifically the name for the celestial body we know as Venus, and
is typically used in omens. It is noteworthy that this name first appears in the Isin-Larsa period.
Nisaba’s association with the stars is explicit in ETCSL 1.6.2 (The Exploits of Ninurta): 712f.
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