Search Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »
My library | Help | Advanced Book Search | Web History | Sign in

Books

Ancient astronomy and celestial divination

Front Cover
Noel M Swerdlow
0 Reviews
MIT Press, 1999 - Science - 378 pages
In the ancient world, the collection and study of celestial phenomena and the interpretation 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.

Contributors: Asger 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.
  

What people are saying - Write a review

We haven't found any reviews in the usual places.

Related books

The Heavenly Writing: Divination, Horoscopy, and Astronomy in Mesopotamian ...
The Heavenly Writing: Divination, Horoscopy, and Astronomy in Mesopotamian ...
Francesca Rochberg
Limited preview - 2004
Astral Sciences in Mesopotamia
Astral Sciences in Mesopotamia
Hermann Hunger,David Edwin Pingree
Limited preview - 1999
“The” Babylonian Theory of the Planets
“The” Babylonian Theory of the Planets
N. M. Swerdlow
Limited preview - 1998
All related books »

Contents

BABYLONIAN CELESTIAL DIVINATION
21
THE TEXTS AND THEIR
39
BABYLONIAN OBSERVATIONS OF SATURN DURING
61
NONMATHEMATICAL ASTRONOMICAL TEXTS AND THEIR
77
Gerd GraBhoff
97
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
Copyright

Common terms and phrases

Aaboe Akkadian Almagest ancient anomalistic month anomaly anti-sun astrology astronomical texts Babylon Babylonian astronomical calculated CM CM column computed conjunction cubits cuneiform Cuneiform Texts derived ecliptic coordinates elongation Enlil Enuma Anu Enlil ephemerides figure function Goal year texts Goal-Year tablets Handy Tables Hipparchus horizon horoscopes Hunger interpretation intervals Jupiter Kandalanu last appearance last visibility latitude LBAT longitude lunar eclipse Lunar Four Lunar Six lunar theory lunar velocity Mars mathematical astronomy mean synodic Mercury Mercury's moon moonrise moonrise to sunrise moonrise to sunset moonset to sunrise Neugebauer night observations omen series omina papyri parameters phenomena Pingree planetary planets position preceding month predicted Ptolemy Ptolemy's rising Sachs Saros saros cycle Saturn Scorpii Seleucid sexagesimal solar eclipse sunrise to moonset sunset to moonrise sunset to moonset synodic arc synodic months System syzygy Theon tion topographical relations Uruk values Venus zodiacal sign

References to this book

From other books

Geschichte der Astrologie: Von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart
Geschichte der Astrologie: Von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart
Kocku von Stuckrad
Limited preview - 2007
A Brief History of Ancient Astrology
A Brief History of Ancient Astrology
Roger Beck
No preview available - 2006
All Book Search results »

From Google Scholar

Studies in the Astronomy of the Roman Period III. Planetary Epoch ...
Alexander Jones - 1998 - Centaurus
An Analysis Of Celestial Omina In The Light Of Mesopotamian ...
Robert Jonathan Taylor - 2006
Anwendung statistischer Verfahren zur hydrologischen Modellierung ...
Sven Kralisch
Bc4 世紀には, より正確な方法がバビロニア・ギリシャで行われていた. 現在でも ...
早見均

References from web pages

JSTOR: Ancient Astronomy and Celestial Divination
Ancient Astronomy and Celestial Divination. Edited by nm SWERDLOW. Dibner Institute Studies in the History of Sci- ence and Technology. Cambridge, Mass. ...
links.jstor.org/ sici?sici=0003-0279(200110%2F12)121%3A4%3C687%3AAAACD%3E2.0.CO%3B2-0

By 14 Fascinating Specialists: Ancient Astronomy and Celestial ...
BY 14 FASCINATING SPECIALISTS: ANCIENT ASTRONOMY AND. CELESTIAL DIVINATION. nm Swerdlow editor, 378 pages. MIT Press, Cambridge Mass. and London England, ...
www.springerlink.com/ index/ W5J6777361522116.pdf

Ancient Astronomy and Celestial Divination - The MIT Press
This volume presents recent work on Babylonian celestial divination and on the Greek inheritors of the Babylonian tradition
mitpress.mit.edu/ catalog/ item/ default.asp?ttype=2& tid=4667

Ancient astronomy and celestial divination [worldcat.org]
Ancient astronomy and celestial divination. By: nm Swerdlow. Type: English : Book : Non-fiction. Publisher: Cambridge, Ma. : MIT Press, 1999. ...
worldcat.org/ isbn/ 9780262194228

II
ROCHBERG (F.), « Babylonian Horoscopy : The Texts and Their Relations », in Ancient Astronomy and Celestial Divination, éd. nm Swerdlow, Cambridge (Mass. ...
warburg.sas.ac.uk/ mnemosyne/ Orientation/ astrobibl/ M%E9sopotamie.htm

Mesopotamian Astronomy & Astrology
Ancient Astronomy and Celestial Divination (MIT Press, Cambridge/London, 1999), pp. 20-37. Brown, David R., Mesopotamian Planetary Astronomy-Astrology (Styx ...
www.phys.uu.nl/ ~vgent/ babylon/ babybibl_astrology.htm

Reviews 79.indd
Ancient Astronomy and Celestial Divination. Edited by nm Swerdlow (The MIT. Press, Cambridge and London, 1999). Pp. x + 378. $49.95. ...
www.shpltd.co.uk/ reviews-feb-2002.pdf

ANCIENT ASTRONOMY AND CELESTIAL DIVINATION - nm Swerdlow (Ed ...
ANCIENT ASTRONOMY AND CELESTIAL DIVINATION - NM Swerdlow (Ed. )
n-swerdlow-ed-.comprar-livro.com.br/ livros/ 1026219422/

AN ANALYSIS OF CELESTIAL OMINA IN THE LIGHT OF MESOPOTAMIAN ...
Noel M. Swerdlow, ed., Ancient Astronomy and Celestial Divination (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT. Press, 1999), 21. Page 14. 8. manipulation of the organ by the ...
etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/ ETD-db/ available/ etd-03312006-193940/ unrestricted/ final.pdf

AN ESSAY REVIEW OF:
Ancient Astronomy and Celestial Divination, London: The MIT Press, 1999, p. 77. Cf. bl Van der Waerden, "History of the Zodiak," Archiv für Orientforschung ...
user.tninet.se/ ~oof408u/ fkf/ english/ furulirev1.htm

About the author (1999)

is Professor in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics and the Department of History at the University of Chicago.

Bibliographic information

QR code for Ancient astronomy and celestial divination
TitleAncient astronomy and celestial divination
Dibner Institute studies in the history of science and technology
EditorNoel M Swerdlow
Editionillustrated
PublisherMIT Press, 1999
ISBN0262194228, 9780262194228
Length378 pages
Subjects › 

Science / Astronomy
Science / History
  
Export CitationBiBTeX EndNote RefMan