Mesopotamian Planetary Astronomy-astrologyPliny wrote of Babylon that "here the creator of the science of astronomy was". Excavations have shown this statement to be true. This book argues that the earliest attempts at the accurate prediction of celestial phenomena are indeed to be found in clay tablets dating to the 8th and 7th centuries BC from both Babylon and from Nineveh. The author carefully situates this astronomy within its cultural context, treating all available material from the relevant period, and also analysing the earlier astrological material and the later well-known ephemerides and related texts. A wholly new approach to cuneiform astral concerns emerges - one in which both celestial divination and the later astronomy are shown to be embedded in a prevailing philosophy dealing with the ideal nature of the early universe, and in which the dynamics of the celestial divination industry that surrounded the last Assyrian monarchs account for no less than the first recorded "scientific revolution". This work closely adheres to the original textual sources, and argues for the evolution on the basis of the needs of the ancient scholars and the internal logic of the divinatory and predictive systems employed. To this end, it offers, for the first time, a Mesopotamian contribution to the philosophy, and not only the history, of science. |
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Contents
The Planets and their Ominous Phenomena c 750612 BC | 53 |
Celestial Divination The Enūma Anu Ellil EAE Paradigm | 105 |
The Prediction of Celestial Phenomena PCP Paradigm | 161 |
Copyright | |
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7th century BC ABABR ABCD accurate Akkad Akkadian Amurru apodoses appears argue association Assurbanipal Assyrian astrolabes astrology astronomy astronomy-astrology attested Babylonian Babylonian Scholars bodes ill BPO3 calendar celestial divination celestial events celestial omens celestial phenomena concern constellation cuneiform datable derived described Diaries discussed divinatory EAE Paradigm Eclipse Records Ellil Esarhaddon example exorcist gods GYTs heavens heliacal phenomena heliacal rising Horowitz Hunger ideal period intercalation interpretation interval invented Jupiter known Koch-Westenholz late NA period LBAT length Letters and Reports listed locations lunar eclipse lunar six Marduk Mars mathematical means Mercury Mesopotamian millennium month Moon Mul.Apin Nineveh NMAATs Normal stars noted observations occur omen series ominous phenomena Parpola PCP Paradigm perhaps period schemes Pingree planetary planets prediction probably protases references Reiner SAA8 SAAX Šamaš Saros Saturn Scorpius scribes signs Subartu suggest Sumerian tablet temple texts Venus visible watch writing zodiac