Ancient Tablets from Babylon Finally Translated
Astrologers believed that the mercurial gods placed coded signs in the heavens above to foretell the fate of kings, their families, and the lands they ruled.
Celestial-omen texts were developed over time by astronomers and scholars. They were essentially troubleshooting manuals for pious kings that were written on clay tablets in cuneiform.
Lunar eclipses were a significant astrological phenomenon that held great importance for the advisors of Babylonian rulers. Recently, the British Museum has successfully translated four of the oldest known texts documenting the Earth's alignment between the sun and moon. The tablets, estimated to be 4,000 years old, were studied by Andrew George, a professor at the University of London, and Junko Taniguchi, an independent researcher. These ancient artifacts are believed to originate from Sippar, a prosperous city on the Euphrates River in present-day Iraq.
The authors of a paper recently published in the Journal of Cuneiform Studies wrote that lunar eclipses were of great importance for good government and good statecraft. As evidenced in later periods, astrological observation played a significant role in protecting the king and regulating his behavior according to the gods' wishes.”
Using spellings and case endings, researchers were able to date the tablets. A and D were made in the 18th century B.C.E., roughly during the reign of Hammurabi and his son Samsuiluna. B and C were made in the 17th century B.C.E.
The tablets largely repeat their information and contain up to 61 omens in total. They consist of an observation, “if X happens,” followed by a prediction, “then Y will happen.” A number of factors are considered to decipher an eclipse, including time of night, shadow movement, duration, and month and day of year. While some divinations were connected to lived experiences, they were largely based on a theoretical system that linked various eclipse characteristics to various omens.
The lunar eclipse omens were translated using a black and white copy of the text on Tablet A
Junko Taniguchi copied Tablet A for the translation of the Babylonian text. Photo: Journal of Cuneiform Studies/Taniguchi/George.
Even though some futures foretold destruction for Babylon’s enemies, they were almost uniformly negative. The warnings range from inclement weather, with "the deluge will occur everywhere"; to famine, warning "people will trade their children for silver, causing a reduction in population"; to general chaos, in which "there will be evil in the land, its bounty will disappear."
Kings could counteract these omens by seeking out oracles - specialists would examine animal entrails - and performing the proscribed rituals.
These tablets, first identified in the 1970s by a Babylonian scholar, served as a source of information for scholars examining how lunar eclipse texts evolved throughout history. In their content, they are similar to old Babylonian tablets translated over a decade ago related to Dur-Abiesuḫ, a fortress on the Tigris River near the ancient city of Nippur.
During the final decade of the 1800s, the British Museum acquired the tablets from a range of Babylonian antique traders. The tablets' provenance remains obscure.
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