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A Study of Babylonian Goal-Year Planetary Astronomy

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Durham E-Theses A Study of Babylonian Goal-Year Planetary Astronomy GRAY, JENNIFER,MARY,KNIGHTLEY How to cite: GRAY, JENNIFER,MARY,KNIGHTLEY (2009) A Study of Babylonian Goal-Year Planetary Astronomy, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/101/ 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 A Study of Babylonian Goal-Year Planetary Astronomy Jennifer M. K. Gray PhD Thesis Department of Physics University of Durham 2009 Abstract Throughout the Late Babylonian Period, Mesopotamian astronomers made nightly observations of the planets, Moon and stars. Based on these observations, they developed several different techniques for predicting future astronomical events. The present study aims to improve our understanding of a particular empirical method of prediction, which made use of planetary periods – a period of time over which a planet‘s motion recurs very closely – to predict that planet‘s future motion. Various planetary periods are referred to in many Late Babylonian astronomical texts. By collecting together these periods and analysing their effectiveness, it was found that, generally, the most effective of the planetary periods were those which were used in the production of a particular type of text known as a Goal-Year Text. The Goal-Year Texts contain excerpts of astronomical observational records, with the planetary records having been taken from particular observation years with these planetary periods in mind – such that each planet‘s motion will recur during the same, specific, future year. It has been suggested that they form an intermediate step towards the compilation of the non- mathematical predictive texts known as Almanacs and Normal Star Almanacs. An analysis of theoretically calculated dates of planetary events showed that, if the Goal- Year Texts were to be used as a source for making empirical predictions, particular corrections (specific to each planet) would need to be applied to the dates of the planetary records found in the Goal-Year Texts. These corrections take the form of regular corrections to the day of an event (a ―date correction‖), and more irregular corrections of ±1 month (a ―month shift‖). An extensive investigation of the Babylonian non- mathematical texts demonstrated that the observed differences in the dates of events, when comparing equivalent records in all known extant Almanacs and Normal Star Almanacs with those in the Goal-Year Texts, were extremely consistent with theoretical expectations. This lends considerable support to the theory that the Goal-Year Texts‘ records formed the ―raw data‖ used in the compilation of the Almanacs and Normal Star Almanacs. It was also possible to analyse several other aspects of Late Babylonian non-mathematical astronomy during the course of this study. These topics include the usage of particular stars in the predictive texts, the meaning of certain terminology found in records of the Babylonian zodiacal signs, and the specific issues related to the planet Mercury‘s periods of visibility and invisibility. Therefore, this investigation enhances many aspects of our knowledge of Late Babylonian astronomical practices. 2 Declaration The work described in this thesis was undertaken between 2006 and 2009 while the author was a research student under the supervision of Professor John Steele in the Department of Physics at the University of Durham. This work has not been submitted for any other degree at the University of Durham or any other University. Portions of this work have appeared in the following papers: J. M. Steele & J. M. K. Gray (2007), A Study of Babylonian Observations Involving the Zodiac, Journal for the History of Astronomy 38, 443-458 J. M. K. Gray & J. M. Steele (2008), Studies on Babylonian goal-year astronomy I: a comparison between planetary data in Goal-Year Texts, Almanacs and Normal Star Almanacs, Archive for History of Exact Sciences 62, 553-600 J. M. K. Gray & J. M. Steele (2009), Studies on Babylonian goal-year astronomy II: the Babylonian calendar and goal-year methods of prediction, Archive for History of Exact Sciences, in press. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without her prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. 3 Acknowledgments Many thanks are due to my supervisor, Professor John Steele, for his help and guidance over the last four years. I am also very grateful to the Science and Technologies Research Council for funding my research, and to colleagues in Durham University‘s departments of Physics, Classics and Ancient History, and Philosophy for their interest in my work. I have also benefited from the support of many other people, and the knowledge they have shared with me. Thanks especially to the following for their provision of, variously, useful discussions, books, data, and copies of unpublished texts: Prof. Lis Brack-Bernsen, Dr. John Britton, Prof. Hermann Hunger, Prof. Alexander Jones, Prof. Norbert Roughton, and Mr. Christopher Walker. Finally, thank you to my family and friends who encouraged me to get this far! 4 Contents Chapter 1: Introduction 8 1.1 General Introduction ............................................................................................................. 8 1.2 Calendars and chronology ................................................................................................... 10 1.2.1 Mesopotamian chronology .......................................................................................... 10 1.2.2 Calendrical systems ....................................................................................................... 12 1.3 Late Babylonian Astronomy ............................................................................................... 14 1.3.1 Overview of the development of astronomy in Mesopotamia .............................. 14 1.3.2 Non-Mathematical Astronomy ................................................................................... 15 1.3.2.1 Goal-Year Astronomy .......................................................................................... 15 1.3.2.2 Lunar Astronomy .................................................................................................. 16 1.3.3 Mathematical Astronomy ............................................................................................ 17 1.3.4 Astrology and horoscopes ........................................................................................... 18 1.3.5 Terminology used in Late Babylonian astronomical records ................................. 19 1.3.5.1 Planetary names ..................................................................................................... 19 1.3.5.2 Sidereal motion ...................................................................................................... 19 1.3.5.3 Synodic phenomena.............................................................................................. 20 1.3.5.4 Zodiacal signs ........................................................................................................ 21 1.3.5.5 Time measurements .............................................................................................. 22 1.4 Modern calculations of Babylonian astronomical events ............................................... 23 1.4.1 The ―Horizons‖ ephemeris ......................................................................................... 24 1.4.2 The ―Bretagnon‖ ephemeris ....................................................................................... 24 1.4.3 N. A. Roughton‘s planetary tables ............................................................................. 24 1.4.4 The ―Alcyone‖ ephemeris ........................................................................................... 25 Chapter 2: The non-mathematical astronomical texts 26 2.1 The Astronomical Diaries ................................................................................................... 26 2.1.1 The effect of bad weather on the Astronomical Diaries‘ records ......................... 27 2.1.2 The use of ―ideal‖ phenomenon dates in the Astronomical Diaries .................... 29 2.1.3 Duplicate records in the Astronomical Diaries ........................................................ 31 2.2 The Goal-Year Texts ........................................................................................................... 34 2.3 The Normal Star Almanacs................................................................................................. 34 2.4 The Almanacs ....................................................................................................................... 38 2.5 Other texts ............................................................................................................................
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