By Hermann Hunger, David Pingree
Astronomy and astrology, or the astral sciences, performed an incredible, if no longer key position within the political and non secular lifetime of the traditional close to East, and of the Greek and Roman global. this article presents a complete account of the origins of the astral sciences within the historical close to East. every kind of Sumerian or Akkadian textual content facing descriptive or mathematical astronomy, together with many person pills are completely handled. It additionally positive aspects descriptions of astronomical contents, a proof in their medical which means, and where a given style or pill has within the improvement of astronomy either in the Mesopotamian tradition and outdoors of it.
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Extra info for Astral Sciences in Mesopotamia (Handbook of Oriental Studies)
192 II 18. Σ in H ; brilliant and excessive; sundown [II χ. ] Σ in I t ; vivid; sundown to to surroundings of Mercury: 15°; (ideal) surroundings of Mercury: 15°; (ideal) Σ Σ on sixteenth. on seventeenth. II 20. Mercury 2'/4(? ) cubits under β Gem Mercury 2 cubits 10 digits [below β] Gem IV 27. Γ in SI; emerging of Mercury to -191 IV 22. [Γ] dawn: 16°; (ideal) Γ on twenty second. VIII [χ. ] Γ at finish of £i; vivid and VIII eight. Γ at finish of vibrant and excessive; excessive; emerging of Mercury to dawn: emerging of Mercury to dawn: 20°; 21°; (ideal) Γ on [x] (ideal) Γ on second. -189 VII 10. [Mercury] 2/3 cubit [above Mars] VII 10. Mercury 5/6 cubit above Mars. -186 XI 14. Ξ in nj)(! ) 2Vi cubits at the back of XI 14. Ξ in ok; vivid; sundown to Venus; vibrant and excessive; sundown environment of Mercury 16°; (ideal) Ξ on to environment of Mercury: 16°; (ideal) eleventh. Ξ on twelfth. XII [1], Ω at finish o f X . -183 II three. Mercury [... ] above γ Gem IV [1. Γ in H ; . . . ; ] (ideal) Γ on [III] 26 -182 X 17. Γ in ^ 1 cubit in entrance of Moon; brilliant; emerging of Mercury XII 1. Ω in M. II four. [... ] above γ Gem III 26. Γ in H ; no longer saw [X ... ]. Γ [... ]; emerging of Mercury to dawn [... ]; (ideal) Γ on twenty fourth. to dawn: 16°; [... ] those examples suffice to illustrate that the scribe of A 3456 used a unique set of Diaries—presumably originating in Uruk—from the Babylonian Diaries to be had to us, even though the conventions or even some of the computations of the 2 colleges have been exact or very comparable. a robust indicator of the truth that die scribe of A 3456 didn't use an Ephemeris is that the computed dates on that pill and the entries hello A 3424 + 3436 (ACT 300), an Ephemeris from Uruk for -193/2 to -168/7, aren't in contract. Nor do the entries in ACT three hundred consider these in BM 45980 (ACT 301), an Ephemeris from Babylon, the place they overlap (from -178/7 on), even if either belong to approach Aj; either A 3456 and ACT three hundred belong to neighborhood traditions in Unik. one hundred eighty bankruptcy A 3456 ACT three hundred -187 [VIII χ] Γ; (ideal) Γ on 10+. [IX 3], Γ in x* -186 [VI χ. Σ] in fty; (ideal) Σ on 2d VI five. Σ in Ity VIII 25. Γ in m. : (ideal) Γ on twenty fourth [VIII] 28. Γ in m. X eight. Σ in X 14. Σ in no longer saw -185 I 26. Σ; passed over I 25. Σ in V 6. Γ at finish of 23; (ideal) Γ on 4th VIII 21 Γ in 111. ; (ideal) Γ on nineteenth -184 IX 2. Σ at starting of χ"; ^ T [V] three. Γ in 23. [VIII] 22. Γ in m. VIII 25. Σ. now not saw -183 VIII eleven. Σ in 111; no longer saw XI 2. Γ in now not saw XII 12. Σ in okay; no longer saw -182 [III] 24. Γ in H ; no longer saw VIII 15. Σ. [XI] three. Γ in X[II 13], Σ. [III 22], Γ in H [VIII χ. ] Σ; (ideal) Σ on 1st. [VIII 7]. Σ. [Χ χ. Γ]; (ideal) Γ on twenty fourth. [Χ 25. ] T i n >>, XII 7. [Σ] in [XII nine. ] Σ. now not saw -181 [II] 18 [Γ] at finish of tf ; [not] saw. [II 1 7 ] . r [ i n t f ] . [VI] three. Γ [V 30], Γ [in Ιφ] IX [1]7. [Γ] [IX 19], Γ [in χ*]. -180 II 20. Γ; passed over [V x]. Γ in φ ; (ideal) Γ on twenty third. [II 6], Γ [in tf ] [V 24], Γ [in SI}. you will need to do not forget that the restorations of the dates in ACT three hundred are completely definite considering they're the results of mathematical calculations.