Astronomical Diaries
Babylon; edited by Sachs & Hunger, Astronomical Diaries and Related Texts from Babylonia (ADART) I–III
Night-by-night observation records kept by the scribes of Babylon. Besides the Moon, they log each planet's synodic phenomena, including the first and second stations of the outer planets and the stations of Mercury and Venus, and month summaries give the zodiacal sign at each station. They are the oldest systematic record of planetary stations, the turning points of retrograde loops, though they never describe the loop itself.
- Author
- Anonymous (Babylonian scribes)
- Date
- c. 652–61 BCE
- Original language
- Akkadian (Late Babylonian, heavily logographic)
- Kind
- Observation record
- Planets
- Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn
Editions
4 editions.
| Year | Edition | © |
|---|---|---|
| 1988 | A. J. Sachs & H. Hunger, Astronomical Diaries and Related Texts from Babylonia, Vol. I: Diaries from 652 B.C. to 262 B.C. (Vienna: Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1988) | © |
| 1989 | A. J. Sachs & H. Hunger, ADART Vol. II: Diaries from 261 B.C. to 165 B.C. (Vienna: ÖAW, 1989) | © |
| 1996 | A. J. Sachs & H. Hunger, ADART Vol. III: Diaries from 164 B.C. to 61 B.C. (Vienna: ÖAW, 1996) | © |
| 2018 | ADsD: Astronomical Diaries Digital (ORACC project, FWF grant P 30311), online edition based on Sachs–Hunger with later collations | ? |
Read it
No digitised copy known.
No digitised copy known. The editions above are the way in.
Myths we don’t repeat
Checked, and left out.
- Myth 01
Not 'Mercury retrograde' in the astrological sense: the diaries record the dates and signs of stations, nothing more.
References
Also on the Mesopotamia shelf
| Date | Source | Planets | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| c. 1700–1550 BCE (observations); copies from the 8th–7th centuries BCE | Venus Tablet of AmmiṣaduqaAnonymous (Babylonian)Astrological | General | Astrological |
| c. 380–50 BCE | Babylonian planetary ephemeridesAnonymous (Babylonian scribes)Math. astronomy | Me Ve Ma Ju Sa | Math. astronomy |
| c. 350–50 BCE | Jupiter 'trapezoid' procedure textsAnonymous (Babylonian scribes)Math. astronomy | Ju | Math. astronomy |
| 3rd–1st centuries BCE | Goal-Year TextsAnonymous (Babylonian scribes)Observation | Me Ve Ma Ju Sa | Observation |
| c. 3rd–1st centuries BCE | Almanacs and Normal Star AlmanacsAnonymous (Babylonian scribes)Math. astronomy | Ma Ju Sa | Math. astronomy |
| 1889 | Astronomisches aus BabylonJoseph Epping & Johann N. StrassmaierMath. astronomy | General | Math. astronomy |