Amazing tablets of an ancient civilization have been deciphered: they used lunar eclipses for predictions

The Babylonians connected astronomical phenomena with cataclysms

Scientists have deciphered cuneiform tablets four thousand years old, found more than a century ago in what is now Iraq. The tablets describe that some lunar eclipses are omens of death, destruction and epidemics.

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“A swarm of locusts will descend upon the land,” reads one omen. “A great army will fall,” says another. “A king will die,” predicts a third. The ancient Babylonians based these dire prophecies on celestial oracles, linking the positions of the stars, planets, and the moon to major earthly events like plagues and destruction.”Imagine you're an ancient farmer — you're outside and suddenly the sky darkens,” writes astronomer Bradley Schaefer. “It can only be a message from the gods.””

Lunar eclipses were considered particularly important indicators of the fate that would befall ancient Babylonia and the empires surrounding it, and often foreshadowed the death of a king. According to NASA, the Babylonians learned to predict lunar eclipses in advance and sometimes appointed “substitute kings who would bear the brunt of the gods’ wrath” while the real ruler remained unharmed.

The four tablets analyzed in the new study date from the middle and late Old Babylonian periods (roughly 1894 to 1595 BCE).

“These are the oldest examples of lunar eclipse omens ever discovered,” says Babylonian language expert Andrew George. The linguist points out that the tablets were most likely found in Sippar, an ancient city southwest of modern-day Baghdad that flourished during the Babylonian Empire.” Although the British Museum acquired the tablets between 1892 and 1914, this recent discovery marks the first time that cuneiform has been fully translated and linked to a system of astronomical predictions.”“All of them, as it turned out, testify to the same text, — declares George, — and arranges lunar eclipse omens by time of night, shadow movement, duration and date.»

This complex system of lunar analysis produced very detailed predictions. One example on the tablet states that if “an eclipse is darkened in the center and immediately clears, the king will die, causing the destruction of Elam,” referring to the region that is now part of modern-day Iran. Another sign states that if an eclipse occurs on a certain day of the month, “there will be a shortage of straw and cattle.”

According to the expert, “the origin of some omens may lie in actual experience — observing omens followed by a catastrophe.” But most of them were related to eclipses by a purely theoretical or speculative system.

The king or similarly important Babylonian leader would have had advisers well versed in these astronomical systems, who would watch the night sky for omens. In the case of a particularly alarming omen, such as one predicting the king's death, they would probably turn to animal entrails for confirmation.

«This eclipse has been set aside for verification,» a recently translated cuneiform inscription reads at one point, indicating that another round of careful verification of omens was required before they could be considered a prediction.