Babylonian Chronographic Texts from the Hellenistic Period

Review of: A.J. Sachs, H. Hunger, Astronomical Diaries and Related Texts from Babylonia. Volume III. Diaries from 164 B.C. to 61 B.C.Vienna 1996. Review of the historical sections. Demetrius I's accession (162/1 BC), Alexander Balas and Demetrius I (150 BC), Demetrius IÍ's accession and Egypt (145 BC), The Parthian conquest of Babylonia (April-July 141 BC), Antiochus VI and Tryphon (Jan. 140), Demetrius II's attack on Parthia (July/August 138 BC), The death of Mithradates I (now to be corrected to 132 BC - cf. comments at BCHP 18 (www.livius.org > Mesopotamia) with ref. to work of G.R.F. Assar), Marat Sea, the physical condition of Babylon and other Babylonian cities in the Parthian period, Chronological table 162-138 BC.

2006

A New Chronology of the Old Babylonian Kingdom and Ur I-III Based on Identification of Solar and Lunar Eclipses

2017

Recently much progress has been made in the absolute dating of the old Assyrian and old Babylonian chronologies by combining a new critical edition of the old Assyrian eponym lists found at Kültepe-Kaneš (revised eponym list) with radiocarbon and astronomical dating techniques. this has led to narrowing down the absolute dating of the old Babylonian chronology to the two middle chronologies (Ammī-ṣaduqa year 1 = 1646 or 1638 BC) and to reducing the candidates for the solar eclipse recorded in the Mari eponym chronicle (rel 127) to three eclipses (in 1845 BC, 1838 BC, and 1833 BC). in this paper i use the results of a recent study of the intercalation of the old Assyrian calendar at Kaneš (REL 81-110) to further refine the absolute dating of the chronology of the first half of the second millennium BC. the new evidence suggests that astronomical intercalation criteria like the heliacal rising of the bright star Sirius may have played an important role in establishing the intercalation pattern of the old Assyrian calendar. using the REL to create three different solutions of the old Assyrian calendar at Kaneš (rel 81-110), one for each candidate solar eclipse, i propose that the observed intercalation pattern provides an additional independent argument in support of the low middle chronology. According to the absolute dating of the old Assyrian chronology proposed here Šamšī-Adad was born in 1839 BC (REL 126), in the year preceding the partial solar eclipse of 24 march 1838 BC (REL 127) and he died in December 1767 BC (REL 197), during the eighteenth year of the reign of king Hammurabi of Babylon. this chronology proposal implies that the beginning of the reign of the old Assyrian king Erišum (REL 1) may be dated to 1964 BC.

2016

The intent of this study is to describe the directional relations employed in the Babylonian Astronomical Diaries and visually demonstrate their function with charts showing positions of the Moon, planets and stars as viewed on dates corresponding with diary entries. The Babylonians observed and recorded celestial events each night for over six centuries during the first millennium BC. A number of cuneiform tablets containing these astronomical diaries have been recovered and were later translated by Abraham Sachs and Hermann Hunger. The majority of diary entries track the position of the Moon with reference to 31 "normal stars," all within 10 degrees of the ecliptic. Entries specify the moon as being "above," "below," "in front of," or "behind" a second body by a specified distance in "cubits." The extant tablets fail to adequately define the reference system used for the topographical relations. Computer-generated star-charts that are specific for the date and location of selected diary entries show a general interdependence between the topographical relations and the celestial course of the Sun, Moon, and planets. John Steele has discussed the Babylonians as having considered the Moon and planets to move through the zodiac within their own individual bands. This is considered with regard to graphical data that represents a distinct correlation between diary descriptions and the path of the general direction of ecliptic travel.

2025

Chronological issues concerning the Middle Bronze Age in the Near East remain hotly debated. Scholars have proposed various chronologies-High, High-Middle, Low-Middle, Low, and Ultra-Low-based on interpretations of data such as the Babylonian Chronology and the astronomical Venus Tablets. Although the Middle Chronology is best supported by available data, it itself exists in two versions: the High-Middle Chronology (hMC) and the Low-Middle Chronology (lMC). The primary difference between these two versions is an eight-year discrepancy. A main observation in this paper is that while Hammurabi of Babylon reigned from 1792 to 1750 BC, Ammu Saduqa reigned from 1638 to 1618 BC. This suggests that the upper half of the Babylonian Dynasty follows the High Middle Chronology, while the lower half follows the Low Middle Chronology. If both observations are correct, then the discrepancy can be reconciled by adding eight years to the traditional Babylonian chronology. My solution identifies an erroneous reign length among the intervening kings-specifically, an extended reign of eight years for Samsu Ditāna, as evidenced by eight unassigned year names. Additionally, this revision fixes the date of the famous Sack of Babylon by Mursili I of Hatti to 1587 BC.

A large number of the astronomical observations in the Babylonian diaries are occurrences of close conjunctions of moving objects, such as the Moon or planets with bright stars, in the vicinity of the ecliptic. In , Graßhoff proposed the hypothesis that the observations fit best when one assumes that the Babylonians used an ecliptical coordinate system. In the following we present a test that excludes an equatorial coordinate system as an alternative system of measurement. Ein Großteil der astronomischen Beobachtungen in den Babylonischen Tagebüchern han-delt von Konjunktionsereignissen sich bewegender Objekte, wie dem Mond oder Planeten mit hellen Sternen in der Nähe der Ekliptik. argumentierte Graßhoff, dass die Beob-achtungen am meisten Sinn ergäben, wenn man davon ausginge, dass die Babylonier ein ekliptikales Koordinatensystem nutzten. Im Folgenden stellen wir einen Test vor, der ein äquatoriales Koordinatensystem als alternatives Messsystem ausschließt.

Buried History 56, 2020

The paper presents an edition of a Babylonian astronomical diary dated to the reign of Seleucus IV. The diary is dated on historic and astronomic grounds to 175 BCE and serves, thus far, as the earliest mention for the reinstatement of a royal representative over the Esagil temple in Babylon during the late Seleucid period.

Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 2009

A. Imhausen/ T. Pommerening (eds.), Translating Writings of Early Scholars in the Ancient Near East, Egypt, Greece and Rome. Methodological Aspects with Examples, 2016

2006

The recently shown two premises (Gurzadyan 2000), i.e. the absence of 56/64 year Venus cycle constraints, at the importance of the 8-year cycle in the Venus Tablet, stimulated new studies on the Chronology of the Ancient Near East (2nd millennium BC). The analysis by B.Banjevic using both premises, however, did not provide anchors of strenght similar to those of Ur III eclipses, while available solar eclipses lack unambiguous links to historical events. The Ultra-Low chronology (Gasche et al 1998), therefore, has to be considered as currently the one most reliably based on ancient astronomical records.