Ancient Astronomy and Celestial DivinationNoel M. Swerdlow MIT Press, 1999 - 378 páginas This volume presents recent work on Babylonian celestialdivination and on the Greek inheritors of the Babyloniantradition.In the ancient world, the collection and study of celestial phenomena and the intepretation of their prophetic significance, especially as applied to kings and nations, were closely related sciences carried out by the same scholars. Both ancient sources and modern research agree that astronomy and celestial divination arose in Babylon. Only in the late nineteenth century, however, did scholars begin to identify and decipher the original Babylonian sources, and the process of understanding those sources has been long and difficult. This volume presents recent work on Babylonian celestial divination and on the Greek inheritors of the Babylonian tradition. Both philological and mathematical work are included. The essays shed new light on all of the known textual sources, including the omen series Enuma Anu Enlil, which contains omens from as far back as the early second or even third millennium, and the earliest personal horoscopes, from about 400 B.C., as well as the Astronomical Diaries, ephemerides, and other observational and mathematical texts. One essay concerns astronomical papyri that confirm the extensive transmission of Babylonian methods into Greek; a study of Ptolemy's lunar theory suggests that Ptolemy relied more on his own observations than previously thought; and an analysis of Theon's commentary on Ptolemy's Handy Tables shows that Theon explicated their meaning both conscientiously and competently.ContributorsAsger Aaboe, Alan C. Bowen, Lis Brack-Bernsen, John P. Britton, Bernard R. Goldstein, Gerd Graßhoff, Hermann Hunger, Alexander Jones, Erica Reiner, F. Rochberg, N. M. Swerdlow, Anne Tihon, C. B. F. Walker |
Contenido
BABYLONIAN CELESTIAL DIVINATION | 21 |
THE TEXTS AND THEIR | 39 |
BABYLONIAN OBSERVATIONS OF SATURN DURING | 61 |
NONMATHEMATICAL ASTRONOMICAL TEXTS AND THEIR | 77 |
LUNAR DATA | 149 |
A NEW MATHEMATICAL TEXT FROM THE ASTRONOMICAL | 179 |
THE DERIVATION OF THE PARAMETERS OF BABYLONIAN | 255 |
A CLASSIFICATION OF ASTRONOMICAL TABLES | 299 |
THE ROLE OF OBSERVATIONS IN PTOLEMYS LUNAR | 341 |
THEON OF ALEXANDRIA AND PTOLEMYS HANDY | 357 |
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS | 371 |
Términos y frases comunes
a₁ Aaboe Akkadian Alexandrian Almagest almanacs ancient anomalistic month astrology astronomical texts Babylon Babylonian astronomy calculated calendar celestial divination column computed coordinates corresponding Cuneiform Cuneiform Texts d₁ derived Diaries difference ecliptic coordinates elongation Enlil Enūma Anu Enlil ephemerides epoch event figure function Goal year texts Goal-Year tablet Greek Handy Tables Hipparchus horoscopes intervals Jupiter KÙŠ last visibility latitude LBAT length longitude lunar eclipse Lunar Four Lunar Six lunar theory lunar velocity Mars mathematical astronomy mean motion mean synodic measured Mercury moon moonrise to sunset Neugebauer night Normal Star observations omens P.Oxy papyri parameters period relation phenomena planetary planets position predicted Ptolemy Ptolemy's published Sachs Saros saros cycle Saturn Seleucid Seleucid era sexagesimal sign-entries solar ŠÚ sunset to moonrise sunset to moonset synodic arc synodic month syzygy Theon tion Toomer topographical relations Uruk variation Venus w₁ zodiacal sign zones