Scientists have finally deciphered 4,000-year-old cuneiform tablets found more than 100 years ago in what is now Iraq. The tablets explain that certain lunar eclipses are omens of death, destruction and plague.
The four clay tablets “represent the earliest examples of collections of lunar eclipse precursors,” Andrew George, professor emeritus at Babylon University in London, and independent researcher Junko Taniguchi wrote in a recent article in the Journal. (Lunar eclipses occur when the Moon enters the Earth’s shadow.)
The authors of the tablets used the time of night, the movement of shadows, as well as the date and duration of eclipses to predict omens. For example, one omen states: “If the eclipse is suddenly central, [і] “it is immediately clear: the king will die, Elam will perish.” Elam was a region in Mesopotamia, centered on modern-day Iran. Another prophecy says that it will happen when “the eclipse begins in the south and then recedes, and Subartu and Akkad, which were then parts of Mesopotamia, fall.” Another omen is: “The eclipse during the evening watch: it means plague.”
It is possible that ancient astrologers used their past experiences to determine which signs would herald an eclipse.
“Some of the signs may have their origins in real-world experiences — the observation of an omen followed by a cataclysm,” George told Live Science in an email. But he noted that most of the specifics were determined using a theoretical framework that ties eclipse characteristics to various features.
George told Live Science that the cuneiform tablets likely came from Sippar, a thriving city in modern-day Iraq. The Babylonian Empire was flourishing in parts of the region at the time the tablets were written. The tablets became part of the British Museum’s collection between 1892 and 1914, but have yet to be fully translated and published.
Attempt to predict the future
In Babylonia and other parts of Mesopotamia there was a strong belief that celestial events could foretell the future.
People believed that “events in the sky were coded signs placed there by the gods as warnings of what those on earth should expect,” George and Taniguchi wrote in the paper. “Those advising the king watched the night sky and compared their observations with academic texts on celestial prophecies.”
The kings of ancient Mesopotamia didn’t rely solely on these eclipse signs to predict what would happen.
“If the prediction about a certain omen was threatening, for example “the king will die”, then the divination research was carried out by extispica [огляду нутрощів тварин]”To determine whether the king was truly in danger,” George and Taniguchi wrote.
George and Taniguchi wrote that if an animal’s entrails signaled danger, people believed they could perform certain rituals that could reverse the bad omen and thus counter the evil forces behind it. So even if the omens were bad, people still believed that the predicted future could be avoided.
Source: Port Altele
