DOCSLIB.ORG

Observations and Predictions of Eclipse Times by Astronomers in the Pre-Telescopic Period

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Observations and Predictions of Eclipse Times by Astronomers in the Pre-Telescopic Period Durham E-Theses Observations and predictions of eclipse times by astronomers in the pre-telescopic period. Steele, John Michael How to cite: Steele, John Michael (1998) Observations and predictions of eclipse times by astronomers in the pre-telescopic period., Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/990/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 OBSERVATIONS AND PREDICTIONS OF ECLIPSE TIMES BY ASTRONOMERS IN THE PRE-TELESCOPIC PERIOD r _L)/J ýýý \Y . ý'ý. 1 /ýý ýI` Observations and Predictions of Eclipse Times by Astronomers in the Pre-Telescopic Period John Michael Steele PhD Thesis Department of Physics University of Durham 1998 The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation frone it should he published without the written consent of the author and information derived from it should be acknowledged. 30 SEP1g98 2 Observations and Predictions of Eclipse Times by Astronomers in the Pre-Telescopic Period by John Michael Steele PhD Thesis 1998 Abstract Eclipses of the Sun and Moon are among the most impressive of celestial events. It is therefore unsurprising that they have played an important role in the astronomy and astrology of most early cultures. Many hundreds of references to eclipses are found in the writings of the chroniclers and astronomers of the pre-telescopic world. In particular, the astronomers of Babylon, Ancient Greece, the Islamic Near East, Later Medieval and Renaissance Europe, China, and Japan, recorded a large number of observations and predictions of the time of an eclipse. The present study contains an extensive compilation of all known timed reports of eclipse observations and predictions made by astronomers in the pre-telescopic period. By performing a basic analysis of the recorded times, it has been possible to trace the gradual development of the techniques used by the astronomers to observe and predict eclipses. In order to conduct this analysis, it has been necessary to investigate a number of other problems including the dating of damaged observational accounts, the units of time used by the early astronomers, and the methods by which the Babylonians predicted eclipses. Many of these questions have not previ- ously been answered. Therefore, the results of this study provide important information regarding the astronomies of these early cultures. 3 Preface The research presented in this study was undertaken between October 1995 and July 1998 under the supervision of Professor F. R. Stephenson. No part of this work has previously been submitted for a degree either in this or any other university. A significant part of the material presented in this thesis has previously been published in the following papers: " J. M. Steele, "Babylonian Predictions of Lunar and Solar Eclipse Times", Bulletin of the Amer- ican Astronomical Society, 28 (1996), 1305. " J. M. Steele and F. R. Stephenson, "Lunar Eclipse Times Predicted by the Babylonians", Jour- nal for the History of Astronomy, 28 (1997), 119-131. " J. M. Steele, "Solar Eclipse Times Predicted by the Babylonians", Journal for the History of Astronomy, 28 (1997), 131-139. " J. M. Steele, F. R. Stephenson and L. V. Morrison, "The Accuracy of Eclipse Times Measured by the Babylonians", Journal for the History of Astronomy, 28 (1997), 337-345. " J. M. Steele and F. R. Stephenson, "Astronomical Evidence for the Accuracy of Clocks in Pre- Jesuit China", Journal for the History of Astronomy, 29 (1998), 35-48. " J. M. Steele, "Predictions of Eclipse Times Recorded in Chinese History", Journal for the History of Astronomy, 29 (1998), 275-285. " J. M. Steele, "On the Use of the Chinese Hsuan-ming Calendar to Predict the Times of Eclipses in Japan", Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 61 (1998), 527-533. " J. M. Steele, "The Accuracy of Babylonian Observations of Lunar Sixes", Astronomy and Geo- physics, in press. " J. M. Steele and F. R. Stephenson, "Eclipse Observations made by Regiomontanus and Walther", Journal for the History of Astronomy, in press. " J. M. Steele, "The Latest Dated Astronomical Observation from Babylon", in A. R. Millard (ed.) Archaeological Sciences '97, in press. " J. M. Steele, "A Re-analysis of the Eclipse Observations in Ptolemy's Almagest", Centaurus, submitted. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent. Information derived from this study should be clearly acknowledged. 4 Acknowledgements for I wish to express my sincerest gratitude to Prof. F. Richard Stephenson guiding me through such Physics a fascinating subject over the past three years. I also wish to thank the Department of of the University of Durham for its generous provision of a Departmental Studentship, without which this study would not have been possible, and for its continued support of research into historical astron- omy. Also in Durham, I wish to thank the members of the Departments of History and Archaeology for the interest they have shown in my work. There are many people, both in Britain and abroad, who have generously given me the benefit of John their time and expertise during the course of this study. In particular, I would like to mention Dr. Britton, Prof. Peter Huber, Prof. Hermann Hunger, Dr. Leslie Morrison, Prof. Norbert Roughton, Prof. Nathan Sivin, and Dr. Christopher Walker. I would like to thank them all, both for many useful discussions and, in several cases, for generously supplying me with copies of their transliterations and translations of unpublished texts. Away from work, I would like to thank all my friends from my time in Durham, particularly all of the talented musicians that I have played with every Tuesday night for the past few years. Finally, I wish to record my deepest thanks to my family for their support and for not asking me why I spend all my time reading arcane texts. Contents I Introductory Orientations 9 1 Introduction 10 1.1 General Introduction 10 . ................. ... ........ ..... Survey Astronomical Records in Pre-Telescopic Cultures 11 1.2 A of ............ 1.3 Causes Eclipses 14 of ................... ... .... .... ..... 1.4 Methods Analysis 17 of ..... ............. ... .... .... ..... A Note Conventions in Study 18 1.5 on the used this ..... ... ........... .. II The Western Heritage 19 20 2 Mesopotamia (c. 750 BC - AD 75) 2.1 Introduction 20 ....................................... 2.2 Sources Astronomical Records in Mesopotamian History 22 of .............. 2.3 Dating Babylonian Astronomical Tablets 29 ........ ................ 2.3.1 LBAT 1456 30 ................... ....... .... ..... 2.3.2 BM 38357 32 ................... ... ........ ..... 2.3.3 LBAT 1452 33 ............... .................... 2.3.4 LBAT 1413 34 ................................... 2.4 Units of Time 35 .................. ....... ............. 2.5 Eclipse Records in Late Babylonian History 40 ............. ......... 2.6 Accuracy the Observed Times 43 of .......... ..... ............. 2.7 Accuracy the Predicted Times 50 of ................... ......... 2.8 Methods Eclipse Prediction 53 of ............. ....... ......... 3 Ancient Europe (c. 200 BC - AD 364) 65 3.1 Introduction 65 ....................................... in Ptolemy's Almagest 66 3.2 Observations of Lunar Eclipses . .... ........... Observations 69 3.2.1 Babylonian ............ ....... ... ...... Early Greek Observations 72 3.2.2 . ........ ....... ........... Later Greek Observations 73 3.2.3 ....... ....... ............. Alexandria 73 3.3 Observation of a Solar Eclipse by Theon of ....... ........ 3.4 Accuracy Observed Times 74 of the ............................ 76 4 The Near East (c. AD 820 - 1020) 4.1 Introduction 76 .... ........... ........... ............. 4.2 Sources in Near Eastern History 77 of Astronomical Records ............... 4.3 Timed in Near Eastern History 79 Eclipse Records .................... 4.3.1 Habash 81 ........................ .... ... ...... 4.3.2 82 al-Mähani .................................... 6 4.3.3 83 al-Battani ... ........... ...... ....... .... ... .. 4.3.4 Banü Amäjnr 84 . ......... ................... .... 4.3.5 Ibn YGnus 85 .................... ....... .... ..... 4.3.6 i 87 al-Birnn .............. ...... ... ........ ..... Observed Predicted Times 88 4.4 Accuracy of the and .... ... .... .... ..... 92 5 Later Medieval and Renaissance Europe (c. AD 1250 - 1600) 92 5.1 Introduction ..................................... .. Tables 93 5.2 European Astronomical ....... ...................... Techniques Instruments 95 5.3 Observational and ..................... .. Eclipse Records in Later European History 96 5.4 Timed ... ................ 5.4.1 Isaac ben Sid 97 .................. ....... ..... .... 5.4.2 Levi ben Gerson 98 ................ ....... ......... 5.4.3 Jean de Murs 99 .................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • VU Research Portal
    VU Research Portal The impact of empire on market prices in Babylon Pirngruber, R. 2012 document version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link to publication in VU Research Portal citation for published version (APA) Pirngruber, R. (2012). The impact of empire on market prices in Babylon: in the Late Achaemenid and Seleucid periods, ca. 400 - 140 B.C. General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. E-mail address: [email protected] Download date: 25. Sep. 2021 THE IMPACT OF EMPIRE ON MARKET PRICES IN BABYLON in the Late Achaemenid and Seleucid periods, ca. 400 – 140 B.C. R. Pirngruber VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT THE IMPACT OF EMPIRE ON MARKET PRICES IN BABYLON in the Late Achaemenid and Seleucid periods, ca. 400 – 140 B.C. ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad Doctor aan de Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, op gezag van de rector magnificus prof.dr.
    [Show full text]
  • The Imperial Republic
    HISTORYHISTORY — ROME The Imperial Republic Once a republic reluctant to fight wars except in selfdefense, Rome became an imperial colossus capable of annihilating an entire nation out of sheer spite. by Steve Bonta Romans, who had deployed extra infantry Rome by brute experience that imperial in the center of the formation in hopes of expansion has a high price. This is the third installment in a series of breaking through the Carthaginian lines, Rome had never been a peaceful state. articles on the rise and fall of the Roman found themselves outflanked by elite In the early centuries of the republic, how- Republic. North African cavalry units. Hannibal’s ever, many of Rome’s conflicts were pro- cavalry overwhelmed the Roman cavalry voked by jealous neighbors like the Vols- n all of human history, there have been on both flanks and then swept behind the cians and the Aequans. The early Italian few spectacles to rival the great battles Roman forces to attack from the rear. In peninsula was a tough neighborhood, with I of the ancient world, with their pag- short order, the Romans were completely rival Etruscan and Latin states, including eantry, color — and awful carnage. And hemmed in by the Carthaginians. Han- Rome, jostling for control, and the Gauls, few battles of that age could match the nibal’s numerically inferior forces then who occupied parts of northern Italy, fre- drama that unfolded under the hot Ital- slaughtered the Romans on the field al- quently making incursions southward. ian sun one August morning in 216 B.C.
    [Show full text]
  • Hasmonean” Family Tree
    THE “HASMONEAN” FAMILY TREE Hasmoneus │ Simeon │ John │ Mattathias ┌──────────────┬─────────────────────┼─────────────────┬─────────┐ John Simon Judas Maccabee Eleazar Jonathan Murdered: Murdered: KIA: KIA: Murdered: 160/159 BC 134 BC 160 BC 162 BC 143 BC ┌────────┬────┴────┐ Judas John Hyrcanus Murdered: Murdered: Died: 134 BC 135 BC 104 BC ├──────────────────────┬─────────────┐ Aristobulus ═ Salome Alexander Antigonus Alexander ═══════ Salome Alexander Declared Himself “King”: Murdered: Declared “King”: Declared “Regent”: 104 BC 103 BC 103 BC 76 BC Died: Died: 103 BC 76 BC ┌──────┴──────┐ Hyrcanus II Aristobulus II Declared High Priest: 76 BC 1 THE “HASMONEAN” DYNASTY OF SIMON THE HIGH PRIEST 142 BC Simon, the last of the sons of Mattathias, was declared High Priest & “Ethnarch” (ruler of one’s own ethnic group) of the Jews by Demetrius II, King of the Seleucid Empire. 138 BC After Demetrius II was captured by the Parthians, his brother, Antiochus VII, affirmed Simon’s High Priesthood & requested assistance in dealing with Trypho, a usurper of the Seleucid throne. “King Antiochus to Simon the high priest and ethnarch and to the nation of the Jews, greetings. “Whereas certain scoundrels have gained control of the kingdom of our ancestors, and I intend to lay claim to the kingdom so that I may restore it as it formerly was, and have recruited a host of mercenary troops and have equipped warships, and intend to make a landing in the country so that I may proceed against those who have destroyed our country and those who have devastated many cities in my kingdom, now therefore I confirm to you all the tax remissions that the kings before me have granted you, and a release from all the other payments from which they have released you.
    [Show full text]
  • The Impact of the Roman Army (200 BC – AD 476)
    Impact of Empire 6 IMEM-6-deBlois_CS2.indd i 5-4-2007 8:35:52 Impact of Empire Editorial Board of the series Impact of Empire (= Management Team of the Network Impact of Empire) Lukas de Blois, Angelos Chaniotis Ségolène Demougin, Olivier Hekster, Gerda de Kleijn Luuk de Ligt, Elio Lo Cascio, Michael Peachin John Rich, and Christian Witschel Executive Secretariat of the Series and the Network Lukas de Blois, Olivier Hekster Gerda de Kleijn and John Rich Radboud University of Nijmegen, Erasmusplein 1, P.O. Box 9103, 6500 HD Nijmegen, The Netherlands E-mail addresses: [email protected] and [email protected] Academic Board of the International Network Impact of Empire geza alföldy – stéphane benoist – anthony birley christer bruun – john drinkwater – werner eck – peter funke andrea giardina – johannes hahn – fik meijer – onno van nijf marie-thérèse raepsaet-charlier – john richardson bert van der spek – richard talbert – willem zwalve VOLUME 6 IMEM-6-deBlois_CS2.indd ii 5-4-2007 8:35:52 The Impact of the Roman Army (200 BC – AD 476) Economic, Social, Political, Religious and Cultural Aspects Proceedings of the Sixth Workshop of the International Network Impact of Empire (Roman Empire, 200 B.C. – A.D. 476) Capri, March 29 – April 2, 2005 Edited by Lukas de Blois & Elio Lo Cascio With the Aid of Olivier Hekster & Gerda de Kleijn LEIDEN • BOSTON 2007 This is an open access title distributed under the terms of the CC-BY-NC 4.0 License, which permits any non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
    [Show full text]
  • Calendar of Roman Events
    Introduction Steve Worboys and I began this calendar in 1980 or 1981 when we discovered that the exact dates of many events survive from Roman antiquity, the most famous being the ides of March murder of Caesar. Flipping through a few books on Roman history revealed a handful of dates, and we believed that to fill every day of the year would certainly be impossible. From 1981 until 1989 I kept the calendar, adding dates as I ran across them. In 1989 I typed the list into the computer and we began again to plunder books and journals for dates, this time recording sources. Since then I have worked and reworked the Calendar, revising old entries and adding many, many more. The Roman Calendar The calendar was reformed twice, once by Caesar in 46 BC and later by Augustus in 8 BC. Each of these reforms is described in A. K. Michels’ book The Calendar of the Roman Republic. In an ordinary pre-Julian year, the number of days in each month was as follows: 29 January 31 May 29 September 28 February 29 June 31 October 31 March 31 Quintilis (July) 29 November 29 April 29 Sextilis (August) 29 December. The Romans did not number the days of the months consecutively. They reckoned backwards from three fixed points: The kalends, the nones, and the ides. The kalends is the first day of the month. For months with 31 days the nones fall on the 7th and the ides the 15th. For other months the nones fall on the 5th and the ides on the 13th.
    [Show full text]
  • Central Balkans Cradle of Aegean Culture
    ANTONIJE SHKOKLJEV SLAVE NIKOLOVSKI - KATIN PREHISTORY CENTRAL BALKANS CRADLE OF AEGEAN CULTURE Prehistory - Central Balkans Cradle of Aegean culture By Antonije Shkokljev Slave Nikolovski – Katin Translated from Macedonian to English and edited By Risto Stefov Prehistory - Central Balkans Cradle of Aegean culture Published by: Risto Stefov Publications [email protected] Toronto, Canada All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without written consent from the author, except for the inclusion of brief and documented quotations in a review. Copyright 2013 by Antonije Shkokljev, Slave Nikolovski – Katin & Risto Stefov e-book edition 2 Index Index........................................................................................................3 COMMON HISTORY AND FUTURE ..................................................5 I - GEOGRAPHICAL CONFIGURATION OF THE BALKANS.........8 II - ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES .........................................10 III - EPISTEMOLOGY OF THE PANNONIAN ONOMASTICS.......11 IV - DEVELOPMENT OF PALEOGRAPHY IN THE BALKANS....33 V – THRACE ........................................................................................37 VI – PREHISTORIC MACEDONIA....................................................41 VII - THESSALY - PREHISTORIC AEOLIA.....................................62 VIII – EPIRUS – PELASGIAN TESPROTIA......................................69
    [Show full text]
  • Interpretation of the Function of the Obelisk of Augustus in Rome from Antique Texts to Present Time Virtual Reconstruction
    The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Volume XLII-2/W11, 2019 GEORES 2019 – 2nd International Conference of Geomatics and Restoration, 8–10 May 2019, Milan, Italy INTERPRETATION OF THE FUNCTION OF THE OBELISK OF AUGUSTUS IN ROME FROM ANTIQUE TEXTS TO PRESENT TIME VIRTUAL RECONSTRUCTION M. Hiermanseder Hietzing Consult, Vienna, Austria - [email protected] KEY WORDS: Astronomy, Line of Meridian, Historical Texts, Archeology, Simulation, Virtual World Heritage ABSTRACT: About the astronomical use of the obelisk of Augustus on Campo Marzio in Rome, which has already been described by Pliny, well known astronomers and mathematicians like Euler, Marinoni or Poleni have given their expert opinion immediately after it's unearthing in 1748. With the prevailing opinion, based on a brief chapter in "Historia naturalis", it would constitute a line of meridian rather than a sundial, the question had been decided for more than 200 years. In 1976, however, the prominent German archeologist Edmund Buchner established once more the assumption, that the obelisk has been part of a gigantic sundial for the apotheosis of the emperor Augustus. Excavations of the German Archeological Institute in 1980/81, which brought to light parts of the inscriptions of the scale, were taken as a proof of his theory by Buchner. Since 1990 works by physicists and experts for chronometry like Schütz, Maes, Auber, et.al., established the interpretation as a line of meridian. Recent measurements and virtual reconstructions of the antique situation in 2013 provide valid evidence for this argument as well. The different approach to the problem mirrors the antagonism between interpretation of antique texts and the assessment of archeological findings in the light of far fledged historical hypotheses.
    [Show full text]
  • Numerical Notation: a Comparative History
    This page intentionally left blank Numerical Notation Th is book is a cross-cultural reference volume of all attested numerical notation systems (graphic, nonphonetic systems for representing numbers), encompassing more than 100 such systems used over the past 5,500 years. Using a typology that defi es progressive, unilinear evolutionary models of change, Stephen Chrisomalis identifi es fi ve basic types of numerical notation systems, using a cultural phylo- genetic framework to show relationships between systems and to create a general theory of change in numerical systems. Numerical notation systems are prima- rily representational systems, not computational technologies. Cognitive factors that help explain how numerical systems change relate to general principles, such as conciseness and avoidance of ambiguity, which also apply to writing systems. Th e transformation and replacement of numerical notation systems relate to spe- cifi c social, economic, and technological changes, such as the development of the printing press and the expansion of the global world-system. Stephen Chrisomalis is an assistant professor of anthropology at Wayne State Uni- versity in Detroit, Michigan. He completed his Ph.D. at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, where he studied under the late Bruce Trigger. Chrisomalis’s work has appeared in journals including Antiquity, Cambridge Archaeological Jour- nal, and Cross-Cultural Research. He is the editor of the Stop: Toutes Directions project and the author of the academic weblog Glossographia. Numerical Notation A Comparative History Stephen Chrisomalis Wayne State University CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi, Dubai, Tokyo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521878180 © Stephen Chrisomalis 2010 This publication is in copyright.
    [Show full text]
  • The Maccabean Revolt
    THE MARION COUNTY MANNA PROJECT offers a Printer Friendly Summary of THE MACCABEAN REVOLT Question: "What happened in the Maccabean Revolt?" Answer: The Maccabean Revolt (1) was a Jewish rebellion against their Greek/Syrian oppressors in Israel, c. 167—160 BC, as well as a rejection of Hellenistic compromises in worship. The history of the Maccabean Revolt is found in 1 & 2 Maccabees (2) and in the writings of Josephus. The origin of Hanukkah (3) is traced back to the Maccabean Revolt. First, some background on the events leading up to the Maccabean Revolt. The Old Testament (4) closes with the book of Malachi (5), covering events to roughly 400 BC. After that, Alexander the Great (6) all but conquers the known civilized world and dies in 323 BC. His empire is distributed to his four generals who consolidate their territory and establish their dynasties. Ptolemy, one of his generals, ruled in Egypt. Seleucus, another of his generals, ruled over territory that included Syria. These generals founded dynasties that were often at war with each other. Israel (7), located between the two kingdoms, occupied a precarious position. Ptolemaic rule of Israel (Palestine) was tolerant of Jewish religious practices. However, the Seleucid Empire (8) eventually won control of the area and began to curtail Jewish religious practices. In 175 BC, Antiochus IV (9) came to power. He chose for himself the name Antiochus Epiphanes, which means “god manifest.” He began to persecute the Jews in earnest. He outlawed Jewish reli- gious practices (including the observance of kosher food laws) and ordered the worship of the Greek god Zeus.
    [Show full text]
  • (IOWP) Arabs in Late First Millennium BC Babylonia
    Imperium and Officium Working Papers (IOWP) Arabs in late first millennium BC Babylonia Version 00 April 2014 Reinhard Pirngruber (University of Vienna, Department of Oriental Studies) Abstract: This brief article discusses and aims to contextualize the references to Arabs in the corpus of the Astronomical Diaries. © Reinhard Pirngruber 2014 [email protected] Reinhard Pirngruber 1 Arabs in late first millennium BC Babylonia1 Introduction Throughout the first millennium BC, the large entities reigning over Mesopotamia – the native Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian Empires as well as the subsequent foreign, Iranian and Graeco-Macedonian respectively, rulers of the Achaemenid, Seleucid and Parthian dynasties – were in frequent contact with a people called “Arabs”, designated in the Akkadian language by means of the nisbah lúArbāya. The earliest attestation of this ethnonym in the cuneiform sources dates to the year 853 BC, when the so-called Kurkh-monolith, a victory stela of the Neo-Assyrian king Shalmaneser III commemorating his success in the battle at Qarqar on the Orontes river, mentions the “1,000 camels of the Gindibu’ the Arab” reinforcing a coalition of several local rulers headed by Ahab of Israel and Hadad-ezer of Damascus. The following two centuries of the Neo-Assyrian Empire until its demise early in the second half of the 7th century BC are then the most abundantly documented era in Ancient Near Eastern History as regards Arabs. Arab tribal leaders often occur in royal inscriptions as victims of the expansionist ambitions of the Neo-Assyrian kings, bearing tribute and swearing oaths of loyalty, whereas epistolographic sources document the efforts of Assyrian administrators in Syria of coming to terms with nomadic Arab tribal elements within the empire.
    [Show full text]
  • Interventions by the Roman Republic in Illyria 230 – 167 BC
    Interventions by the Roman Republic in Illyria 230 – 167 BC Submitted by Jack James Willoughby, to the University of Exeter as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Classics, September 2018. This thesis is available for Library use on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. I certify that all material in this thesis which is not my own work has been identified and that no material has previously been submitted and approved for the award of a degree by this or any other University. (Signature) ……………………………………………………………………………… Page 1 of 181 Abstract This thesis aims to determine how and why Rome undertook a series of interventions in Illyria during the period of 230 – 167 BC. The thesis is based on a detailed examination and consideration of the ancient written sources and the subsequent historiography on the subject. The Roman interventions in Illyria during this period have traditionally been treated as a component of wider studies of Roman expansion, although Rome’s involvement in Illyria has recently been examined by Dzino in his 2010 work Illyricum in Roman Politics 229BC-AD68. This work examined the development and integration of Illyricum in Roman political discourse, in which the Roman interventions were a smaller component in the broader study. A study of the Roman interventions in Illyria during the period of 230 – 167 BC has never previously been treated on this scale, nor effectively with a synthesis of the various approaches and pieces of evidence that are now available.
    [Show full text]
  • A DEDICATION to APHRODITE EPEKOOS for DEMETRIUS I SOTER and HIS FAMILY Aus: Zeitschrift Für Papyrologie Und Epigraphik 131 (2000) 106–110
    OLIVER D. HOOVER A DEDICATION TO APHRODITE EPEKOOS FOR DEMETRIUS I SOTER AND HIS FAMILY aus: Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 131 (2000) 106–110 © Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, Bonn 106 A DEDICATION TO APHRODITE EPEKOOS FOR DEMETRIUS I SOTER AND HIS FAMILY1 This inscribed marble plaque is said to have been brought to France from Syria at the beginning of the 20th century. In the early 1990s the French collection to which it belonged was sold and the piece came to the United States where it currently remains as part of a private collection. The stone measures 25.5 cm wide, 24.7 cm high and 2.6 cm thick. There is a trace of a raised molding 0.7cm wide on the upper left corner of the stone. The lower left and upper right corners are broken and missing. The stone ap- pears to be a cut piece of a marble stele reused for this inscription. The script is appropriate to the second century BC (although the form of the letter II appears more frequently in the third century) and the letters range in height from 20 to 10 mm. A space of 15-17 mm separates each line. ÑUp¢r ba!il°v! Dhmhtr¤ou ka‹ ba!il¤!!h! Laod¤kh! ka‹ t«n t°knvn 4 ÉAfrod¤t˙ §phkÒƒ tÚn bvmÚn ÉApollofãnh! ÉApollofãnou ı flereÊ!. For the well-being of King Demetrius and Queen Laodice and their children, Apollo- phanes the son of Apollophanes, the priest [dedicated] the altar to Aphrodite Epekoos. 2: The letter alpha of Laod¤kh! is incomplete.
    [Show full text]