P1:GDZ/FFX P2:GDZ/FFX QC: GDZ/FFX T1:GDZ CB735-FM CB735-Rochberg-v1 July 6, 2004 10:7 This page intentionally left blank P1:GDZ/FFX P2:GDZ/FFX QC: GDZ/FFX T1:GDZ CB735-FM CB735-Rochberg-v1 July 6, 2004 10:7 THE HEAVENLY WRITING In antiquity, the expertise of the Babylonians in matters of the heavens was legendary, and the roots of both western astronomy and astrology are trace- able in cuneiform tablets going back to the second and first millennia b.c. The Heavenly Writing discusses Babylonian celestial divination, horoscopy, and astronomy, the differentiations and interconnections within them, and their place in Mesopotamian intellectual culture. Focusing chiefly on celes- tial divination and horoscopes, it traces the emergence of personal astrology from the tradition of celestial divination and the way astronomical methods were employed for horoscopes. It further takes up the historiographical and philosophical issue of the nature of these Mesopotamian “celestial sciences” by examining elements traditionally of concern to the philosophy of science (empiricism, prediction, and theory) in relation to the Babylonian material without sacrificing the ancient methods, goals, and interests to a modern image of science. This book will be of particular interest to those concerned with the early history of science and the problems introduced by modern distinctions among science, magic, and religion for the study and understanding of ancient cultures. Francesca Rochberg is Professor of History at the University of California, Riverside, and the recipient of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship and the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship. She is the author of Babylonian Horoscopes (1998) and Aspects of Babylonian Celestial Divina- tion: The Lunar Eclipse Tablets of Enuma¯ Anu Enlil (1988). i P1:GDZ/FFX P2:GDZ/FFX QC: GDZ/FFX T1:GDZ CB735-FM CB735-Rochberg-v1 July 6, 2004 10:7 P1:GDZ/FFX P2:GDZ/FFX QC: GDZ/FFX T1:GDZ CB735-FM CB735-Rochberg-v1 July 6, 2004 10:7 T HE H EAVENLY W RITING divination, horoscopy, and astronomy in mesopotamian culture Francesca Rochberg University of California, Riverside Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge , UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521830102 © Francesca Rochberg 2004 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published in print format 2004 - ---- eBook (NetLibrary) - --- eBook (NetLibrary) - ---- hardback - --- hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of s for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. P1:GDZ/FFX P2:GDZ/FFX QC: GDZ/FFX T1:GDZ CB735-FM CB735-Rochberg-v1 July 6, 2004 10:7 Formyparents, my children Jacob and Gemma, my husband Perce, and in memory of Paul P1:GDZ/FFX P2:GDZ/FFX QC: GDZ/FFX T1:GDZ CB735-FM CB735-Rochberg-v1 July 6, 2004 10:7 It is the privilege of antiquity to mingle divine things with human. Livy, History of Rome, Bk 1, 7 P1:GDZ/FFX P2:GDZ/FFX QC: GDZ/FFX T1:GDZ CB735-FM CB735-Rochberg-v1 July 6, 2004 10:7 Contents Preface page ix Acknowledgments xvii Abbreviations xix Chronological References and Akkadian and Astronomical Ter minology xxiii Prologue 1 1 The Historiography of Mesopotamian Science 14 1.1 The Reception of Babylonian Astronomy into the History of Science 15 1.2 Philosophical Influences 29 2 Celestial Divination in Context 44 2.1 An Introduction to Mesopotamian Scholarly Divination 44 2.2 ADescriptive Survey of the “Unprovoked” Omen Texts 66 3 Personal Celestial Divination: The Babylonian Horoscopes 98 4 Sources for Horoscopes in Astronomical Texts 121 4.1 Astronomical Elements of the Horoscopes 123 4.2 Astronomical Sources for Horoscopes 145 5 Sources for Horoscopes in the Early Astrological Tradition 164 5.1 The Ideological Background 164 5.2 Conceptualization of the Phenomena as Signs 165 5.3 The Authoritative Character of the Celestial Signs 181 vii P1:GDZ/FFX P2:GDZ/FFX QC: GDZ/FFX T1:GDZ CB735-FM CB735-Rochberg-v1 July 6, 2004 10:7 viii contents 5.4 Divine–Human Relations 185 5.5 Personal Celestial Divination 202 6 The Scribes and Scholars of Mesopotamian Celestial Science 209 6.1 The Scribes, Scholarship, and Knowledge 210 6.2 The Scribes of Enuma¯ Anu Enlil 219 7 The Classification of Mesopotamian Celestial Inquiry as Science 237 7.1 The Evidence of Transmission 237 7.2 A Consideration of Criteria 244 7.3 The Foundations of Mesopotamian Scientific Knowledge: The Epistemological Criterion 246 7.4 The Aim of Prediction: The Pragmatic Criterion 265 Epilogue 287 Bibliography 301 Name Index 323 Subject Index 326 P1:GDZ/FFX P2:GDZ/FFX QC: GDZ/FFX T1:GDZ CB735-FM CB735-Rochberg-v1 July 6, 2004 10:7 preface Already more than 100 years since their decipherment and almost 50 years since their general availability in translation, the continued obscurity of Babylonian sources within the general history of science, as compared, for example, with those of ancient Greece, reflects a persistent historiography of science, influenced by a particular classification of knowledge and its implicit criteria. Although the argument for the legitimacy of Babylo- nian astronomy for the history of science has frequently been in terms of the degree to which it directly contributed to the European tradition, the classification and nature of Babylonian astronomy as “science” apart from its position in the patrimony of modern exact sciences still warrants discussion. Largely through the work of Otto Neugebauer, efforts to reconstruct the history of science in ancient Mesopotamia have concentrated on the exact sciences. Neugebauer’s focus on the relation between mathematics and astronomy, especially on the internal mathematical structures that distinguish the Late Babylonian astronomical texts, determined the tenor of research in Babylonian science for much of the twentieth century. Hiscommitment to the recovery and detailed analysis of the Babylonian ephemerides stemmed from the belief that only specialization produces sound results. Indeed, the recovery of the contents of Babylonian math- ematical astronomy and the subsequent work on this material by oth- ers, both before him (J. Epping and F. X. Kugler) and after (A. J. Sachs, A. Aaboe, B. L. van der Waerden, P.Huber, J. P.Britton, L. Brack-Bernsen, and N. M. Swerdlow), as well as the progress made in the study of what is sometimes referred to as the nonmathematical Babylonian astronomy by A. J. Sachs, H. Hunger, and D. Pingree, prove critical for our under- standing of other aspects of Babylonian celestial inquiry, especially celestial divination and its relationship to astronomy. ix P1:GDZ/FFX P2:GDZ/FFX QC: GDZ/FFX T1:GDZ CB735-FM CB735-Rochberg-v1 July 6, 2004 10:7 x preface Whether or how to differentiate between “astrology” and “astronomy” is strictly a matter of convenience when describing the content of a text from the cuneiform corpus of celestial science. There are no “native” Akkadian counterparts to the terms astrology (astrologia)orastronomy (astronomia). Even the distinction between these terms as applied from Late Antiquity through the Middle Ages varied from one author to another and did not necessarily imply a difference in status such as we make between science and magic. For the present purposes, then, if a text contains forecasts of mundane events it is “astrological”; otherwise it is “astronomical.” I apply these terms strictly for descriptive convenience, without further implica- tion that such a native classification existed, much less any of its conno- tations. There is a further potential terminological problem in applying “astrology,” with its associations to Hellenistic Greek theories of stellar influence and fatalism, to the Babylonian material, which does not share a common cosmological or methodological basis with Greek astrology. But, I would argue, the term astrology may be used as a general rubric for Mesopotamian astral and genethlialogical omens as well as for the Baby- lonian horoscopes, without conflating these with later forms of Greek astrology, some of which in fact are the legacy of ancient Mesopotamian tradition. Early in the twentieth century, within the confines of assyriology, sources for Babylonian “astrology,” more properly celestial divination, claimed the attention, most notably, of C. Virolleaud and E. Weidner, whose work still provides a solid foundation for incorporation of these sources into a broader picture of science in the ancient Near East. Ob- viously the big picture cannot be restored without a systematic corpus. Editions of the primary texts still need to be completed, but the past decade has seen the publication of a great many celestial divinatory and otherwise astronomical texts. Research in the area of Babylonian celestial and other divinations, as well as a variety of classifications of magic, can only further our understanding of Babylonian science as conceived and practiced in ancient Mesopotamian culture and represented by an inter- related set of texts. In much the same way as historians of the Scientific Revolution now recognize the continuation of the tradition of natural magic and the significance of the religious background of Renaissance science, students of Babylonian science acknowledge the continuation of the traditions of divination and magic throughout the late period of the mathematical astronomical texts and are beginning to take account of the relationships among these diverse text types. P1:GDZ/FFX P2:GDZ/FFX QC: GDZ/FFX T1:GDZ CB735-FM CB735-Rochberg-v1 July 6, 2004 10:7 preface xi This book began with a desire to come to terms with the nature of science as a cultural phenomenon in ancient Mesopotamia.