Researchers have cracked 4,000-year-old Babylonian cuneiform tablets, revealing insights into how ancient Babylonians interpreted lunar eclipses as ominous signs of disaster.
Ancient Babylonian Lunar Eclipse Texts Deciphered After Century of Mystery
Location: Modern-Day Iraq, Northeast Syria, and Southeast Turkey | Date: Circa 1200-317 BC | Journal: Journal of Cuneiform Studies
In a groundbreaking archaeological achievement, researchers have unlocked the secrets of 4,000-year-old Babylonian cuneiform tablets. This milestone, accomplished with the aid of artificial intelligence, has decoded long-untranslated writings that reveal how ancient Babylonians perceived lunar eclipses as ominous harbingers of doom.
The findings, recently published in the Journal of Cuneiform Studies, provide the oldest recorded instances of lunar eclipse omens. The Babylonian astrologers believed that these celestial events foretold significant disasters. They meticulously documented predictions about potential threats to their civilization, relying on their observations of the night sky.
The deciphered texts indicate that lunar eclipses were seen as dire warnings. One tablet ominously stated, “An eclipse in the morning watch means the end of a dynasty.” Another forecast reads, “If an eclipse becomes obscured from its center all at once and clear all at once: a king will die, destruction of Elam.” Furthermore, different times of the eclipse carried different threats: “An eclipse in the evening watch signifies pestilence,” and a puzzling prediction mentioned that “If an eclipse is the wrong way around, nothing will be spared, the deluge will occur everywhere.” Researchers hypothesize that the “wrong way around” could mean the moon’s disk facing an unexpected direction during the eclipse.
The deciphered tablets originate from the city of Sippar, an ancient Babylonian city in what is now modern-day Iraq, and date back to approximately 1200 BC. These are held within the British Museum’s extensive collection of cuneiform tablets, acquired over a century ago. These artifacts, particularly those from 731-317 BC and 609-447 BC, provide significant insights into how ancient Mesopotamians integrated celestial events into their cultural and religious practices.
The Mesopotamian civilization, flourishing between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, is credited with pivotal advancements in human history. From early agricultural settlements to the development of large cities, the civilization’s inhabitants sought to understand their world and future through varied means, including astrology.
“Babylonian astrology was an academic branch of divination founded on the belief that events in the sky were coded signs placed there by the gods as warnings about the future prospects of those on Earth,” explained the archaeologists. Their research highlighted that astrological observations were integral to both protecting the king and managing his actions in alignment with divine intentions.
The texts also detailed rituals that involved examining animal intestines to verify ominous portents and assess the king’s safety. First-millennium records indicate that upon identifying a persistent threat, the king’s advisors employed apotropaic rituals to counteract it by targeting the evil forces identified in the celestial signs.
These discoveries embody not only the sophisticated level of astronomical and astrological knowledge among ancient Babylonians but also underscore the profound cultural and spiritual significance they attributed to celestial phenomena. The tablets serve as a rich historical testament to a civilization that sought to interpret and influence its fate through the heavenly scripts read by their astrologers.
