Keeping watch in Babylon : the astronomical diaries in context / edited by Johannes Haubold, John Steele, Kathryn Stevens.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Haubold, Johannes, editor.

Steele, John M., editor.

Stevens, Kathryn, 1986- editor.

Series:

Culture and history of the ancient Near East ; v. 96.

Culture and history of the ancient Near East ; volume 96

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Astronomy, Assyro-Babylonian.

Astronomy, Ancient.

Physical Description:

viii, 315 pages ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2019.

Summary:

This volume of collected essays, the first of its kind in any language, investigates the Astronomical Diaries from ancient Babylon, a collection of almost 1000 clay tablets which, over a period of some five hundred years (6th century to 1st century BCE), record observations of selected astronomical phenomena as well as the economy and history of Mesopotamia and surrounding regions. The volume asks who the scholars were, what motivated them to 'keep watch in Babylon' and how their approach changed in the course of the collection's long history. Contributors come from a range of disciplinary backgrounds, including Assyriology, Classics, ancient history, the history of science and the history of religion.

Contents:

The early history of the astronomical diaries / John Steele

Babylonian market predictions / Mathieu Ossendrijver

Logging history in Achaemenid, Hellenistic and Parthian Babylonia : historical entries in dated astronomical diaries / Christopher Tuplin

Who wrote the Babylonian astronomical diaries? / Eleanor Robson

The astronomical diaries and religion in Seleucid and Parthian Babylon : the case of the prophet of Nanaya / Lucinda Dirven

The museum context of the astronomical diaries / Reinhard Pirngruber

From Babylon to Batar : the geography of the astronomical diaries / Kathryn Stevens

Royal presence in the astronomical diaries / Marijn Visscher

History and historiography in the early Parthian diaries / Johannes Haubold

The relationship between Greco-Macedonian citizens and the "Council of Elders" in the Arsacid period : new evidence from astronomical diary BM 35269 + 35347 + 35358 294 / Yasuyuki Mitsuma.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Other Format:

Online version: Keeping watch in Babylon

ISBN:

9789004397750

9004397752

OCLC:

1081436899