Abstract
Babylonian rising time schemes relate positions at or relative to stars which culminate either as the sun rises or sets on particular days of the year or as given points on the ecliptic rise across the eastern horizon. These schemes were first identified in cuneiform texts in the mid-20th century and were initially assumed to be related to the functions for the length of daylight in the mathematical astronomy of the Hellenistic period (the so-called ‘ACT astronomy’). Subsequently, their relationship with earlier types of Babylonian astronomy has been recognized. This chapter outlines previous research on the rising time schemes and provides an overview of the sources to be studied in this work.
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Notes
- 1.
MUL.APIN is edited and translated by Hunger and Pingree (1989), which also includes a brief commentary. A new edition and commentary is being prepared by H. Hunger and the present author.
- 2.
The appearance of the 2:1 ratio in the “microzodiac” rising time texts was first recognized by Rochberg (2004).
- 3.
- 4.
Schaumberger almost certainly used a copy of photograph of U 196 sent by F. R. Kraus to Neugebauer in 1945; in addition to the poor preservation of U 196, the photograph is badly lit making the tablet even harder to read.
- 5.
Not being able to collate U 196 and acknowledging the uncertainties in Schaumberger’s transcription, Rochberg sensibly decided to omit this tablet from her study. In addition, Rochberg omitted the small fragment BM 77242, published by Horowitz (1994); this tablet can only be understood once the whole rising time scheme has been reconstructed.
References
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Steele, J.M. (2017). Introduction. In: Rising Time Schemes in Babylonian Astronomy. SpringerBriefs in History of Science and Technology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55221-7_1
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