From the History of Science
Planets in Mesopotamian sources of the third and second millennia BC
Kurtik G. E.Observations of Venus as the morning and the evening star were taken already in the archaic Uruk at the end of the fourth millennium BC. The paper further analyzes representations of Venus in glyptic sources of the third millennium and planetary records dating from the second millennium BC. There are indications that all five planets visible to naked eye were known, but the most reliable planetary records of the Old Babylonian Period refer to Venus, Mars, and Jupiter. Synodic events of Venus were observed during the king Ammisaduqa’s reign. Additional planetary data can be found in the texts of the latter half of the second millennium BC – the “Astrolabes” and the astrological series Enūma Anu Enlil.
Key words: astronomy in ancient Mesopotamia, observations of Venus during the Old Babylonian Period, planets of Solar system
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Recommended bibliographic description
Kurtik G. E., Planets in Mesopotamian sources of the third and second millennia BC, Voprosy Istorii Estestvoznaniia i Tekhniki [Studies in History of Science and Technology], 2015, vol. 36, no. 3, p. 455–473
© Studies in the History of Science and Technology: Quarterly scientific journal of the Russian Academy of Sciences (2015)
ISSN 0205-9606. Индекс 70143
ISSN 0205-9606. Индекс 70143