Babylonian astronomy: a new understanding of column . Schematic astronomy, old prediction rules, riddles, loose ends, and new ideas

DOI10.1007/S00407-020-00254-ZMaRDI QIDQ2212349zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Lis Brack-Bernsen

Publication date 20 November 2020

Published in Archive for History of Exact Sciences (Search for Journal in Brave)

Copyright license Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

Full work available at URL https://doi.org/10.1007/s00407-020-00254-z

zbMATH Keywords

Babylonian astronomy

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

History of Babylonian mathematics (01A17)

Review text

In tables of Babylonian mathematical astronomy concerning the Moon, the column labeled \(\Phi\) has a central role. While it has been established that \(\Phi\) measures the variable length of 223 lunar months (the so-called ``Saros), it is not clear how it was derived from observations. Therefore, several divergent explanation attempts were made for its reconstruction. The author made such an attempt already in [Centaurus 33, No. 1, 39--56 (1990; Zbl 0719.01001)]. The paper reviewed here is a further development of her ideas. She found empirically that the sum of the so-called Lunar Four intervals which measure the time differences between the rising and setting of the Sun and Moon before and after opposition, equals \(\Phi\) minus 100\degree. The sum of the Lunar Four intervals measures the movement of the Moon relative to the Sun around this specific opposition (full moon). These intervals were recorded in Babylonian tablets since the 7th century BC. In order to predict them for a given year, their values from 18 years before (which corresponds to 223 synodic months, the ``Saros period) were collected in a small table. The values for the current year can then be found by simple rules. The author discovered some of these rules in a cuneiform text [the author and the reviewer, SCIAMVS 9, 3--23 (2008; Zbl 1168.01002)] and discusses them in the present article. These rules, called by her the ``Goal-year method, provide an explanation for the relation \(\Phi\) = 100\degree\ plus the sum of the ``Lunar Four. The value of \(\Phi\) was considered by the Babylonians as the time shift between lunar eclipses that were separated by 223 synodic months, i.e by 1 ``Saros. In the rest of the article, some consequences of this hypothesis for other parts of the Babylonian calculations of the movements of the Moon are developed. The author should be congratulated for a successful explanation of a vexing problem in Babylonian lunar theory, based on actual Babylonian texts. Details: In Footnote 5 on p. 612, ``opposition has to be replaced by ``conjunction. -- In the bibliography, the entry Brack-Bernsen 2020 should end: eds. Alan C. Bowen and Francesca Rochberg, 171--189. Leiden: Brill.

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