Scorpio Quote Of The Day

Sep 25, 2008

Babylonian Cuneiform Tablet

This Cuneiform tablet picture is courtesy of Nickmard Khoey who published it on Flickr with the following caption:

This is the last datable cuneiform tablet in the British Museum. It gives the monthly positions of the planets in the zodiac signs and the dates of their characteristic phenomena. Dates of solstices, equinoxes and eclipses are also given. The text also refers to the rising of Sirius, and especially bright star used as calendar markers by various cultures across the ancient world.

61 C.E., Babylon, Iraq

P.S.

Nickmard Khoey added:

It is the "last" dated Cunieform tablet. It has been dated because of the Zodiac information on it. Cunieform was still in use until the 1st Century AD. It was used for more than 3,000 years in various forms by different near eastern empires.

It’s a pity that I can’t read cuneiform letters. It would have been much more friendly if we could see the known zodiac-signs scattered between these strange letters, but it seems that these were invented latter. 

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