Lunar eclipse from 19./20. February 599 BC Chr.

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Course of the lunar eclipse (Source: NASA )

The lunar eclipse of 19./20. February 599 BC Chr. (-598 according to astronomical calculation ) is handed down in a Babylonian cuneiform note and belongs to the genre of the ACT texts . The 19th / 20th century specified in the Julian calendar system . February 599 BC Chr. Equivalent to conversion on the present Gregorian calendar the 13/14. February of the year 599 BC Today the cuneiform tablet BM 38462 is in the British Museum in London .

This record gained particular importance through its reference to the Babylonian king Nabu-kudurri-usur II and his fifth year of reign, in which the leap month Ululu II was proclaimed. The full length of the lunar eclipse could be observed in Babylonia as it began shortly after midnight on February 20th. In North America , the lunar eclipse was not visible because it occurred in that region around noon on February 19; in contrast, it was observable in Japan up to the maximum phase, since it began there in the early morning hours of February 20th.

First translations

The Assyriologist Johann Strassmaier and the astronomers Josef Epping and Franz-Xaver Kugler first began to translate the Babylonian-astronomical cuneiform text.

The outstanding research achievements of the time were continued by Otto Neugebauer , among others . In 1955 the three-volume standard work Astronomical cuneiform Texts - Babylonian ephemerides of the Seleucid period for the motion of the sun, the moon, and the planets , which still forms the basis of Babylonian astronomical history to this day, was published.

Babylonian text

The astronomical event mentioned was a partial lunar eclipse , which had to be dated precisely based on the information in the cuneiform text. By checking with other historical eclipses, it was found that the historical dates deviate from the back-calculated values. The corresponding time difference is referred to as " Δ T ".

Taking into account the Δ T , the lunar eclipse in Babylonia began around 0:45 a.m. on February 20  ,  599 BC. And reached its maximum around 3:10 am. The Babylonian cuneiform tablet is badly damaged, which is why not all data have been preserved:

“[Nabu-kudurri-usur II. 5th year]: The month of Ululu II had passed. [Eleventh month ( Sabatu )], five months (later), 105 UŠ (105 deg; about 420 minutes) after sunset [...] fell, in the south fell [...]. "

- BM 38462 (LBAT 1420)

See also

literature

  • Josef Epping, Johann-Nepomuk Strassmeier: Astronomical things from Babylon or the knowledge of the Chaldeans about the starry sky . Herder, Freiburg 1889, ( parts from Maria-Laach supplementary books 44).
  • Franz-Xaver Kugler : astronomy and star service in Babel . Volume 1: Development of Babylonian Planetary Studies from its Beginnings to Christ. According to mostly unpublished sources from the British Museum . Aschendorff, Münster 1907.
  • Otto Neugebauer : The exact sciences in antiquity . Unabridged, slightly corrected reprint of the 2nd edition, Brown University Press, 1957. Dover Publications, New York NY 2004, ISBN 0-486-22332-9 , ( Dover classics of science and mathematics ).
  • Otto Neugebauer (Ed.): Astronomical cuneiform Texts. Babylonian ephemerides of the Seleucid period for the motion of the sun, the moon, and the planets . Reprint edition. 3 volumes. Springer, New York NY et al. 1983, ISBN 0-387-90812-9 , ( Sources in the history of mathematics and physical sciences 5), (the original edition appeared: Humphries, London 1955).
  • Abraham J. Sachs: Astronomical Diaries and related Texts from Babylonia . Volume 5: Hermann Hunger (Ed.): Lunar and Planetary Texts . Including materials by Abraham J. Sachs. With an appendix by John M. Steele. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-7001-3028-7 , ( Austrian Academy of Sciences - Philosophical-Historical Class - Memoranda 299).
  • Francis Richard Stephenson : Historical Eclipses and Earth's rotation . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1997, ISBN 0-521-46194-4 .

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b Date in the proleptic Julian calendar .
  2. ^ A b Jean Meeus : Astronomical Algorithms - Applications for Ephemeris Tool 4.5 - , Barth, Leipzig 2000 for: Ephemeris Tool 4.5 according to Jean Meeus, conversion program, 2001 .
  3. ↑ About 4 hours.
  4. ↑ The name of Nabu-kudurri-usur II can be read in the first line of the cuneiform tablet BM 38462.
  5. ↑ The month could also be determined on the basis of a lunar eclipse noted in the fourth year of the reign of Nabu-kudurri-usur II.
  6. ↑ The sunset was around 5:46 p.m. local time.
  7. ^ Francis Richard Stephenson: Historical Eclipses and Earth's rotation . Pp. 149 and 164-165.