Article ID: CBB000930117

The Babylonian Month and the New Moon: Sighting and Prediction (2008)

unapi

It is frequently stated that the beginning of the Babylonian calendar month, at the new moon, was determined on the basis of a combination of new moon sighting and new moon prediction.1 This assumption is plausible but vague, and has never been properly substantiated. The purpose of this article is to establish, through detailed analysis of the evidence in the Astronomical Diaries, the extent to which observation and prediction would have been used for the determination of the Babylonian month. A similar analysis will then be applied to earlier, astrological sources. This will reveal a significant change in the way the month was determined from the neo-Assyrian to the Achaemenid and later periods, and the role that astronomy may have played in the development of this critical aspect of the Babylonian calendar.

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB000930117/

Similar Citations

Essay Review Steele, John M.; (2000)
Babylonian Lunar Theory Reconsidered (/isis/citation/CBB000110326/)

Article Guan, Yuzhen; (2015)
Eclipse Theory in the Jing chu li: Part I. the Adoption of Lunar Velocity (/isis/citation/CBB001202212/)

Book Steele, John M.; (2007)
Calendars and Years: Astronomy and Time in the Ancient Near East (/isis/citation/CBB000830863/)

Book David Brown; Jonathan Ben-Dov; (2018)
The Interactions of Ancient Astral Science (/isis/citation/CBB920028822/)

Book Swerdlow, N. M.; (2000)
Ancient Astronomy and Celestial Divination (/isis/citation/CBB000110580/)

Article Rita Gautschy; (2017)
Astronomical Time versus Social Time: A Case Study from Ancient Egypt (/isis/citation/CBB080809396/)

Article Steele, J.M.; (2010)
A New Scheme from Babylon for the Synodic Arc of Saturn (/isis/citation/CBB001021158/)

Article Clarke, A. J. M.; Steele, J. M.; (2002)
A Computer Generated Babylonian System: A Lunar Ephemeris (/isis/citation/CBB000202714/)

Article Huber, Peter J.; Steele, John M.; (2007)
Babylonian Lunar Six Tablets (/isis/citation/CBB000773657/)

Article Steele, J. M.; (2007)
Celestial Measurement in Babylonian Astronomy (/isis/citation/CBB000772410/)

Article Vavilova, Irina B.; Artemenko, Tetyana G.; (2014)
Ancient Astronomical Culture in Ukraine. 1: Finds Relating to the Paleolithic Era (/isis/citation/CBB001214534/)

Article Britton, John P.; (2010)
Studies in Babylonian Lunar Theory: Part III. The Introduction of the Uniform Zodiac (/isis/citation/CBB001022009/)

Article Britton, John P.; (2009)
Studies in Babylonian Lunar Theory: Part II. Treatments of Lunar Anomaly (/isis/citation/CBB000932081/)

Article Huber, Peter J.; (2000)
Babylonian Short-Time Measurements: Lunar Sixes (/isis/citation/CBB000111267/)

Essay Review Van Brummelen, Glen; (2013)
[Essay review] (/isis/citation/CBB001566547/)

Article Kolev, Rumen; (2001)
Witnessing the Heliacal Rise of Sirius and Procyon; Babylonian Horoscope MLC 1870 (/isis/citation/CBB000102735/)

Article Gray, J. M. K.; Steele, J. M.; (2009)
Studies on Babylonian Goal-Year Astronomy II: The Babylonian Calendar and Goal-Year Methods of Prediction (/isis/citation/CBB000932305/)

Article Goldstein, Bernard R.; (2002)
On the Babylonian Discovery of the Periods of Lunar Motion (/isis/citation/CBB000200350/)

Authors & Contributors
Steele, John M.
Britton, John P.
Huber, Peter J.
Vavilova, Irina B.
Swerdlow, Noel M.
Lehoux, Daryn
Concepts
Astronomy
Moon
Astronomical chronology
Calendars
Mathematics
Cosmology
Time Periods
Ancient
Jin Dynasty (China, 265-420)
Han dynasty (China, 202 B.C.-220 A.D.)
Places
Mesopotamia
Middle and Near East
Greece
Egypt
Babylon (extinct city)
Rome (Italy)
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment