GADEx texts (Babylonia)

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The Babylonian Gadex texts ( G oal-year-text, A lmanachs, D iaries and ex cerpts even Astronomical diaries from Babylon ) represent in the Babylonian astronomy on the ACT texts the second genus of astronomical cuneiform records represent. Otto Neugebauer called the GADEx texts therefore also include " non-ACT texts " as an extension .

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The GADEx texts fall into the section from 625 BC. Until the early Parthian period. Some of the records are severely mutilated today. Most of the texts are now in the British Museum in London .

Target year texts

The “goal year texts” or “target year texts” are documented for the first time in the Seleucid Empire . The basics go back at least to the Achaemenid Empire . Target year texts relate to the prediction of lunar and planetary exceptional phenomena , which can be calculated based on known orbital times of the celestial bodies . They were used for the purpose of astronomical predictions for the future upcoming repetition year (target year).

The synodic period of the six Lubat is based on the corresponding last year of recourse or the last target year (N), to which the respective period of circulation (P) is added. As a result, the next target year was calculated. On the basis of the recorded data, the Babylonians were able to determine 71 and 83 years for Jupiter , 46 years for Mercury , eight years for Venus , 59 years for Saturn , 47 and 79 years for Mars and 18 years for the moon .

Almanac texts

"Almanacs" are classified as records which, as annual lists, form the basis for the "target year texts". In addition, the annual solstices and equinoxes were noted in the “Almanacs” .

Diary texts

The “Diaries” or “Diaries” deal with astronomical and historical events. They were used as “chronological diaries” in connection with the “almanacs” also for the “target year texts”. These texts are of great historical importance because they list many precisely dated political events in Babylonia that have not been recorded from other sources.

literature

  • Otto Neugebauer: A History of Ancient Mathematical Astronomy . Springer, Berlin 1975, ISBN 3-540-06995-X , pp. 351-352.
  • Abraham Sachs , Hermann Hunger : Astronomical Diaries and Related Texts from Babylon, I, Diaries from 625 BC. to 262 BC Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1988, ISBN 3-7001-1227-0
  • Abraham Sachs, Hermann Hunger: Astronomical Diaries and Related Texts from Babylon, II, Diaries from 261 BC to 165 BC Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1989, ISBN 3-7001-1705-1
  • Abraham Sachs, Hermann Hunger: Astronomical Diaries and Related Texts from Babylon, III, Diaries from 164 BC. to 61 BC Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1996, ISBN 3-7001-2578-X

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Abraham Sachs: A Classification of the Babylonian astronomical tablets of the Seleucid period . In: Journal of Cuneiform Studies II, 1948, pp. 271-290.
  2. ↑ Bartel L. van der Waerden: The beginnings of astronomy, Vol. 2 . Birkhäuser, Basel 1980, ISBN 3-7643-1196-7 , p. 107.