Archaeologists, with help from artificial intelligence, have finally decoded 4,000-year-old writing on ancient Babylonian cuneiform tablets predicting doom that have remained untranslated for over a century.
The text is the oldest archaeological record of lunar eclipse omens and shows how ancient astrologers made predictions about disasters threatening the Mesopotamian civilisation by analysing celestial phenomena.
The latest research deciphered four tablets in the British Museum’s collection of cuneiform tablets from the civilisation acquired over a century ago.
The tablets are from the prosperous ancient Babylonian city of Sippar – part of modern-day Iraq – from about 1200 BC.
They represent the oldest known examples of lunar eclipse omens and provide fresh insights into celestial reverence among the people of southern Mesopotamia in the early second millennium BC.
Artificial intelligence has helped archaeologists decipher 4,000-year-old writing on ancient Babylonian cuneiform tablets that has been predicting doom for more than a century.
According to the recently decoded text, which was published in the Journal of Cuneiform Studies, the ancient Babylonians took lunar eclipses to be not only celestial events but also terrible omens portending devastation and death.
The text depicts how ancient astrologers used astronomical phenomena to forecast calamities that would threaten Mesopotamian civilization, and it is the oldest archaeological record of lunar eclipse omens.
A dynasty’s end is signified by “an eclipse in the morning watch,” according to one of the tablets. “.
A prophetic prophecy states, “If an eclipse becomes obscured from its center all at once and clear all at once: a king will die, destruction of Elam.” Not a good sign.
Another says, “An eclipse during the evening watch indicates pestilence.”. Nothing will be spared and there will be a deluge everywhere if an eclipse occurs the wrong way around. “.
Although the astrologer’s exact meaning of “wrong way around” eclipse is unclear, scientists believe it alludes to a situation in which the moon’s disk is said to be “facing the opposite direction from that expected.”.
The region that is now Iraq, northeast Syria, and southeast Turkey was home to the Mesopotamian civilization when it first began to flourish, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
It witnessed significant advances in human civilization, as a result of capitalizing on its advantageous location between two rivers, it went from small agricultural communities to sprawling cities.
It was between three and four thousand years ago that people in this land started to make notes about the connections they observed in their environment, with the hope that these records would aid them in explaining possible future developments.
These varied from more esoteric predictions that a king would pass away after an eclipse to medical forecasts based on alterations to a person’s blood vessels and eyes.
Four of the cuneiform tablets from the civilization that the British Museum acquired more than a century ago have been deciphered thanks to recent research.
The tablets originate from Sippar, a thriving ancient Babylonian city situated in what is now part of modern-day Iraq, circa 1200 BC.
These are the earliest known instances of lunar eclipse omens and offer new perspectives on the early 2nd millennium BC celestial reverence among the people of southern Mesopotamia.
The academic branch of divination known as Babylonian astrology was established on the conviction that celestial events were hidden messages from the gods that forewarned people about their future prospects on Earth.
Astrological observation was one of many intricate strategies used to keep the king safe and control his actions to ensure that they aligned with the gods’ will. “.
The tablets also mention certain customs that involve verifying the negative omens and figuring out “whether the king is in real danger” by means of animal intestines.
It was possible to annul the threat by identifying the forces of evil behind it and countering them with apotropaic rituals, according to first-millennium texts that the king’s advisers felt were still present after such an investigation.
