This article pursues two main goals: (1) to reconstruct the history of the 12 zodiac constellation system in the astronomy of ancient Mesopotamia; (2) to reveal traces of this system directly in cuneiform texts. Among the most important circumstances led to appearance of this system: (1) development of ideas about the band of zodiac constellations, including—according to MUL.APIN—the total of 18 (or 17) constellations; (2) usage of the schematic year, containing 12 months, 30 days each, and (3) development of ideas about mathematical or uniform zodiac, subdivided into 12 equal parts, 30° each. A sequence of the so-called Normal stars singled out in the zodiacal band is an additional important source shedding light on the history of the Mesopotamian zodiac. The designations of Normal stars adopted in Astronomical diaries and other texts indicate that the system of 18 constellations was used in Mesopotamia until the end of cuneiform civilization. This means that in the second half of the first millennium BC the system of 18 constellations, adopted in MUL.APIN, and the system of 12 zodiacal constellations, borrowed from Babylonians by Greek astronomers, were used in parallel. It is also shown in the article that the system of 12 zodiac constellations was used in magical and astrological text BRM 4.20, dated back approximately to the last third of the fourth century BC.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Book
Kurtik, Gennadii;
(2007)
Zvezdnoe nebo drevnei Mesopotamii: Shumero-akkadskie nazvaniia sozvezdii i drugikh svetil
(/isis/citation/CBB000900066/)
Article
John Steele;
(2022)
An alternative interpretation of BM 76829: astrological schemes for length of life and parts of the body
(/isis/citation/CBB892186098/)
Book
Paul-Alain Beaulieu;
Eckart Frahm;
Wayne Horowitz;
John Steele;
(2017)
The Cuneiform Uranology Texts: Drawing the Constellations
(/isis/citation/CBB593986495/)
Article
Jeanette C. Fincke;
Wayne Horowitz;
Eshbal Ratzon;
(2021)
BM 76829: A small astronomical fragment with important implications for the Late Babylonian Astronomy and the Astronomical Book of Enoch
(/isis/citation/CBB712539411/)
Book
Watson, Rita;
Horowitz, Wayne;
(2011)
Writing Science before the Greeks: A Naturalistic Analysis of the Babylonian Astronomical Treatise MUL.APIN
(/isis/citation/CBB001251258/)
Article
Yasuyuki Mitsuma;
(2015)
From Preliminary Diaries to Short Diaries: The First and Second Steps in the Compilation Process of the Late Babylonian Astronomical Diaries
(/isis/citation/CBB206124503/)
Article
John Steele;
(2019)
Explaining Babylonian Astronomy
(/isis/citation/CBB093702502/)
Article
John Steele;
(2018)
The Development of the Babylonian Zodiac: Some Preliminary Observations
(/isis/citation/CBB845419794/)
Article
Gennady E. Kurtik;
(2019)
muluz3, mul dGula, and the Early History of Mesopotamian Constellations
(/isis/citation/CBB264425757/)
Article
Steele, John M.;
(2010)
Newly Identified Lunar and Planetary Tables from Babylon in the British Museum
(/isis/citation/CBB001034969/)
Article
Steele, J. M.;
Gray, J. M. K.;
(2007)
A Study of Babylonian Observations Involving the Zodiac
(/isis/citation/CBB000773363/)
Article
Kurtik, G. E.;
(2012)
Mesopotamian Astronomers' Introduction of the Zodiac as the Band of Constellations
(/isis/citation/CBB001211425/)
Article
Britton, John P.;
(2010)
Studies in Babylonian Lunar Theory: Part III. The Introduction of the Uniform Zodiac
(/isis/citation/CBB001022009/)
Article
Kurtik, G. E.;
(2002)
O proiskhozhdenii grecheskikh zodiakal'nykh sozvezdii
(/isis/citation/CBB000202991/)
Article
Soltysiak, Arkadiusz;
(2001)
The Bull of Heaven in Mesopotamian Sources
(/isis/citation/CBB000102595/)
Article
Clark, Kathleen M;
(2010)
Connecting Local History, Ancient History, and Mathematics: The Eustis Elementary School Pilot Project
(/isis/citation/CBB001034725/)
Article
Proust, Christine;
(2008)
Quantifier et calculer: usages des nombres à Nippur
(/isis/citation/CBB000932283/)
Article
Couto-Ferreira, M. Erica;
(2014)
She Will Give Birth Easily: Therapeutic Approaches to Childbirth in 1st Millennium BCE Cuneiform Sources
(/isis/citation/CBB001500005/)
Article
Erginöz, Gaye Şahinbaş;
(2007-2008)
An Essay on the Astronomical Knowledge and the Calender of the Hittites
(/isis/citation/CBB000931520/)
Article
Francesca Minen;
(2020)
Ancient Mesopotamian views on human skin and body: a cultural–historical analysis of dermatological data from cuneiform sources
(/isis/citation/CBB807723808/)
Be the first to comment!