Constellations Thesis Book by Nesrin Zidan

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Unlike the western calendars, we
use today, that was based on the Sun, and
the Islamic ones, which were based on
the moon, Mesopotamian calendars were
based on both. A month would begin in
the evenings when the thin crescent of the
new moon appears. If on the thirtieth day,
the new moon crescent was not seen, then
the month would be complete and the new
one would begin the next evening, and the
cycle repeats. These created twelve months
that are made up of either twenty-nine or
thirty days (Steele, 2019).
Like most ancient civilizations,
the Mesopotamians, and later the Babylonians,
were superstitious. They believed in
the existence of Astrological omens, signs
the universe would give to warn the kings.
Some of these omens are listed in Enuma
Anu Enlil, a series of seventy Babylonian
tablets dedicated to astrology. In a section
of Jupiter’s omens, we see how different
instances of its movement, through constellations
or other celestial bodies, are recorded
with their significance.
For example, if Jupiter gets closer
to Venus, then it is an omen of chaos, where
people will be confused, and brother will
consume brother. Another popular omen
that seems to have been passed down to
more recent times, is the occurrence of a
moon eclipse. They would have a replacement
for the king sit on the throne so that
he suffers the evil of the eclipse instead of
the king. Later, these omens developed to
become more personalized and accurate.
Thus, the zodiac horoscope was born. The
knowledge of the zodiacal belt and its constellations
has been around as early as 700
BC (Van der Waerden, 1952).
The constellations are believed
to have been identified specifically in the
Seleucid age. This knowledge also consisted
of motions of the sun, stars under
a certain constellation, and the planets in
the “moon’s path,” the only difference is
that their observation has become more
backed up by a mathematical base. The
Babylonian zodiacs are calculated so that
they are precisely equal lengths, in which
each sign comprises 30 degrees; these coordinates
are believed to be recorded in
observational texts from around 200 -70
BC.
Therefore, their perception of phenomena
like solar eclipses, which once
alarmed them has become based on scientific
evidence. Now, they understand that
an eclipse is caused when the moon covers
the sun and that it is caused because the