Introductory note
Part IV of the book begins with this chapter. First, attention is drawn to the Babylonian calendar year 568/567 BCE. It can be noticed that scholars have made small mistakes in timing the months of this much quoted year to the right place.
Second, let's look at the history of the Persian Empire. It is accompanied by lunar eclipses, which play a very important role in timing the chronology.
Opinions of scientists
For more than a hundred years, scholars have sought to date Babylon to 568 BCE. calendar in to place.
It appears that at least some researchers estimate the year began on April 23rd after sunset. This may be due to the fact that the New Moon was on April 21st at. 17.37 p.m. Perhaps because of this, many estimated that the sickle of moon was not yet visible the next evening at sunset.
It may also add to the surprise that of the Ajaru month is estimated to have begun on May 23rd and the month of June of the same month.33-1 The month of New Year was May 21st at. 00.20 a.m. and during the time month on June 19th at. 7.27 a.m.
Are there sufficient grounds to change the general method of calculation of the Babylonian calendar by theh scolars at that time? Let's take a closer look at it.
The beginning of the year
Let’s take a brief quote here from what the clay tablet VAT 4956 on line 1 says happened at the beginning of that year.
‘ Month I, 30th, the moon became visible behind the Bull of Heaven; ‘33-2
The translator indicates in parentheses that the question is the 30th of the previous month. Scholars generally consider this mention of '30' to be identical to the 1st day of the starting month. However, it seems that it also means that the previous month that just ended had 30 days. This feature is good to remember. In this treatise, therefore, it is not judged that this mention of '30' would mean that the 30th day began on that evening, but that it ended then. The previously mentioned 'general assessment of researchers' on this issue practically means this same thing.
However, this time at the beginning of the year seems so clear that Chapter 1 is intepreted by many researchs to apply it in this way.
The moon at a distance of two cubits
The next line is partially damaged. However, it attracts attention because of the dates mentioned in it, which can be deduced to mean the month of Nisannu.
'Saturn was in front of the Swallow. The 2nd, in the morning, a rainbow stretched in the west. Night of the 3rd, the moon was 2 cubits in front of [….]'
Here Saturn was close to the constellation Pisces. More significant is the mention of the moon. It was the 'third night', i.e. the evening of April 24th. At that time the moon was in the constellation Gemini. That '2 cubits' obviously means the distance of the moon to the star Wasat.
At that time, at the same time, Mars was also in Gemini.
Since the clay tablet is slightly damaged at this point, it may also be very possible that those '2 cubits' mean the distance of the moon to Mars. Bring the mention '2. in the morning' would seem to refer specifically to the 24th of April, considering the earlier mentioned beginning of the month of Nisannu.
This also seems to strongly suggest that the new calendar year began on the evening of April 22nd. That reference to the '3rd night' would not apply if we were to assume that the year began on the 23rd, as many scholars assume.
Moon below the Gemini
In line 8, the VAT 4956 clay table shows the following information related to the beginning of the month:
‘Month II, the 1st, the moon became visible while the sun stood there,4 cubits below Geminorum; it was thick’
When did this position of the moon materialize? With the date of May 21th, that definition "below Gemini" would seem to be fulfilled, if it is assumed that it means the position of the Moon in relation to the viewer. But that distance, 4 cubits, may seem long. Let's therefore take a slightly wider picture, which also faintly shows the nearby Leo constellation. The curved line is the horizon.
Although the objects appear slightly smaller, we can get a better overall picture when we remember how Mars was four cubits away from the Lion at the beginning of the simanu month in 568 BCE. Based on this, it seems likely that the month of Ajaru started on May 21st. It also means that the month of Nisannu would have been 29 days long.
However, there may be one peculiarity related to the beginning of some month, perhaps the month of Ajaru. It seems likely that there have been two 1st days at theg beginning of some month. Probably, this peculiarity is the main reason for the different assessment of researchers.
The reason for this peculiarity will be examined further later.
Lunar eclipse 15th Simanu 568 BCE.
This lunar eclipse is very significant - if that chapter '15' is interpreted as flawless - because it allows us to accurately time when the 15th of the same month began and ended.
This lunar eclipse occurred at noon on July 4th. So the May 15th would have already started from the sunset on July 3rd and ended the next day’s sunset. If we had assumed that the simanu month had not begun until June 21st, this eclipse would have occurred on the simanu month.
If April 23rd is applied to the beginning of the year, even if 29 days were recorded for both nisannu and Ajaru, then it would not be enough for the lunar eclipse to be specified at that time on July 4th. This would require an interpretation that the Babylonians made a mistake in predicting the time of this lunar eclipse on the of Simanu 15th.
In this dissertation, it is considered probable that that lunar eclipse occurred on the 13th or 14th of Simanu.
Mercury's movements
One thing that can be noted is the mention of the orbit of Mercury. Mercury was so fast in its movements that in a few days there may be considerable changes in its position. First, the next line will be highlighted, which tells about the event in late May.
‘The 10th, Mercury [rose] in the west behind the Twins’
This happened after sunrise. The evening of May 30th is well suited for this description. According to this, too, the time month began on May 21st.
Earlier in the first chapter, the movements of Mercury and Mars were described. Mercury passed Mars on June 21st at about 12:00 noon. Because this was the time of high noon, this moment was not seen in Babylon. However, it is evident that they followed the movements of these planets all the time. On the evening of June 20th, Mercury was already quite close to Mars. So it may even be possible that they wrote down the mention of these planets as soon as they felt they were going close and a bypass would soon be happening.
Venus above the Lion
On line 11, the clay tablet VAT 4956 reads as follows:
‘[Month II] The 15th. Venus was balanced 1 cubit 4 fingers above Leonis.’
This was the second month, or Ajaru. It is found on June 5th after sunset. If it were estimated to be 2 days later (according to the calendar assumed by the researchers), that trip would have been much shorter.
This supports the assumption that the month of Ajaru begsn on May 21st. It may be noted that in this case Venus was farther from Leo than the moon was from the constellation Virgo on the of Nisan 9th, where it was 1 cubit. Instead, a day later (June 6th), Venus was too close to the constellation Leo to fit this description.
Moon above the Scorpio
This can also be one of the relevant entries. The related line says:
‘10th. first part of the night. The moon was balanced 3½ cubits above Scorpii.’
What is the time of the 10th simanu according to this observation? Let's also take the night of June 29-30th, 568 BCE. into the picture at the bottom of the this page.
The moon is in that picture above Scorpio. Our attention is also drawn to the word “balanced”. This word can have a very big meaning. What does it mean? At that time, scales were widely used as a tool for weighing various foods and goods. We notice in the this picture that that Scorpio resembles the tongue of a scale and that Scorpio resembles the hook of a scale. The vertical 'middle body' of that scale is the star of Antares and the Moon above it. We find that the Moon is almost above the star of Antares. In practice, it was directly above it an hour later, at about 10:30 p.m.
Inci-dentally, it is noteworthy that the word ‘balance’ is also used in English for this weighing tool.
Admittedly, there may be fragmented interpretations of this expression. It is a bit difficult to outline where that distance of 3 ½ cubits is directed. In some ways, that 'balance’ could also be related to the fact that the Moon was in a straight line between the star of Antares and the Star of Sabik in the constellation of the Ophiuchus.
However, there is one factor of uncertainty associated with this. It is already related to the earlier mention of the 1st day of the month of Ajaru.
Distance of the moon to the constellation Ophiuchus
For the aforementioned position of the moon above Scorpion, there is the option that this would have happened on June 30th. That possibility was previously referred to with 'one peculiarity', that the Babylonian calendar at that time had two 1st days of the month in a row at some point.
It may be very possible, perhaps even probable, that there were two 1st days at the beginning of the month of Simanu, given the earlier observation of Venus on the 15th of the month of Ajaru. Another thing that supports this is that the New Moon was in the morning of June 19th.
The evaluation of the existence of this peculiarity is initiated by a short mention in line 14 of the beginning of the month of Simanu:
‘Moon moved east 1 cubit (above or below) the lion's foot’
Obviously, this happened on the evening of June 21st.
Earlier, however, the position of the moon on May 21st
was brought up, which is why it is the only suitable option for the described 1st day of the month of Ajaru.
This interpretation of June 21st would refer to two consecutive 1st days of the month of Simanu.
Let's take a broad picture here and then clarify it somewhat.
As mentioned earlier, researchers have been puzzled as to where in the starry sky the mention '3 ½ cubits above Scorpio' was originally aimed. The researchers apparently had in mind the situation of this picture on June 30th, 568 BCE. This picture is a little wider on purpose, so that at the same time you can see the Leo constellation on the right, which is circled in white. The position of the Moon, Mars and Mercury on June 21st is copied into it. At that time, the distance between Mars and Mercury from Leo was approximately 4 cubits. On the left, the Sabik star in the Ophiuchus constellation (right half arrow) and the Aggia star (left arrow) are marked with an arrow. The lowest star in the Ophiuchus constellation in this image is c Oph, slightly below that is the star b Oph, and below that is the star Garafsa.
Using this image, you can see that the moon's distance from b Oph and Aggia was about 3 ½ cubits, when compared to the distance of Mars to the constellation Leo on the left.
It therefore seems that the ancient Babylonians depicted that b Oph or Aggia star and perhaps also the Sabik star as part of Scorpio. The reason for this is that they apparently mapped the Claws or Pedipalps of Scorpio to the constellation in a different way than it is done today.
References
33-1 Richard A. Parker & Waldo H. Dubberstein: ‘Babylonian Chronology: 626 B.C. - A.D. 75’, 2007, p. 28
33-2 adamoh.org/TreeOfLife.wan.io/OTCh/VAT4956/VAT4956ATranscriptionOfItsTranslationAndComments.htm#_ftn14
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