Conceptions of cyclicity in Babylonian and Greco-Roman scholarship / Mathieu Ossendrijver

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ossendrijver, Mathieu, author.

Series:

Chronoi ; Bd. 18.

Chronoi ; volume 18

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Astrology, Assyro-Babylonian.

Astrology, Greek.

Astrology, Roman.

Astronomy, Assyro-Babylonian.

Astronomy, Greek.

Astronomy, Roman.

Cycles.

Physical Description:

1 online resource : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Berlin : De Gruyter, [2025]

Summary:

"What did ancient Mesopotamian, Greek, and Roman scholars know about the cyclicity of astronomical phenomena, how did they conceptualize cyclicity, and which other phenomena did they consider to be cyclical? This study explores astronomical, astrological, and other scholarly sources, including previously ignored ones, in order to answer these questions. Particular attention is paid to the role of planetary cycles and questions of cross-cultural knowledge transfer. A new account is given of how knowledge of cyclicity, its conceptualization, and its use in predictive practices developed in Babylonia and the Greco-Roman world from the first millennium BCE until Late Antiquity. It is argued that the predictive turn in Babylonian astronomy and astrology led to a new understanding of how astronomical and earthly phenomena are interconnected through time and space. The emergence of horoscopic astrology led to the question of whether human existence is determined by cycles. Even the universe as a whole is governed by cycles according to Plato and later Greco-Roman scholars"-- De Gruyter Brill

Contents:

Mesopotamian scholarly conceptions of time and luni-solar cyclicity until ca. 750 BCE

Conceptions of cyclicity in Mesopotamian celestial divination (ca. 750-200 BCE)

Cyclicity in Babylonian astronomical diaries and related texts (ca. 750 BCE-75 CE)

Cyclicity in Babylonian mathematical astronomy (ca. 400-50 BCE)

Planetary conjunctions in Babylonian astral science

Babylonian evidence for cyclicity beyond astronomical phenomena

Towards a new understanding of the Late Babylonian conceptions of time and cyclicity

Cyclicity and cycle-based conceptions of time according to Plato and Aristotle

Cycles and cyclicity in Greco-Roman astronomy

Astronomical cycles and the Great Year in Greco-Roman astrology

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and indexes

Online resource; title from PDF title page (De Gruyter Brill, viewed June 25, 2026)

Other Format:

Print version: Ossendrijver, Mathieu Conceptions of cyclicity in Babylonian and Greco-Roman scholarship

ISBN:

9783112224267

3112224264

9783112224250

3112224256

OCLC:

1553845116

Publisher Number:

CIPO000310967

Access Restriction:

Some versions: Open access versions available from some providers open access