On the origin of the 12 zodiac constellation system in ancient Mesopotamia

2021 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-66
Author(s):  
Gennady E. Kurtik
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Ancient Mesopotamia ◽  
First Millennium Bc ◽  
System 1

This article pursues two main goals: (1) to reconstruct the history of the 12 zodiac constellation system in the astronomy of ancient Mesopotamia; (2) to reveal traces of this system directly in cuneiform texts. Among the most important circumstances led to appearance of this system: (1) development of ideas about the band of zodiac constellations, including—according to MUL.APIN—the total of 18 (or 17) constellations; (2) usage of the schematic year, containing 12 months, 30 days each, and (3) development of ideas about mathematical or uniform zodiac, subdivided into 12 equal parts, 30° each. A sequence of the so-called Normal stars singled out in the zodiacal band is an additional important source shedding light on the history of the Mesopotamian zodiac. The designations of Normal stars adopted in Astronomical diaries and other texts indicate that the system of 18 constellations was used in Mesopotamia until the end of cuneiform civilization. This means that in the second half of the first millennium BC the system of 18 constellations, adopted in MUL.APIN, and the system of 12 zodiacal constellations, borrowed from Babylonians by Greek astronomers, were used in parallel. It is also shown in the article that the system of 12 zodiac constellations was used in magical and astrological text BRM 4.20, dated back approximately to the last third of the fourth century BC.

The Camel in the Nile Valley: New Radiocarbon Accelerator (AMS) Dates from Qaşr Ibrîm

1988 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 245-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Rowley-Conwy
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
Nile Valley ◽  
Early Evidence ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
First Millennium Bc ◽  
Ams Dates

Radiocarbon Accelerator (AMS) dates from Qa,r Ibrim demonstrate that camels were present in Nubia in the early first millennium BC. Other early evidence for the camel in the Nile Valley is reviewed, and the significance of the Qa,r Ibrirn finds for the cultural history of Nubia is discussed.

Toponyms with traces of ancient Turkish, Sumar, and Caucasian Albania are the ethnic history of Azerbaijan

ANCIENT LAND ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 01 (02) ◽  
pp. 5-22
Author(s):  
Əli Umud oğlu Əliyev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Key Words ◽  
Topical Issue ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
Ethnic History ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
First Millennium Bc ◽  
The Comparative Study

The comparative study of such important issues as the formation of the ethnogenetic process of the Azerbaijani people, covering the period from the beginning of the first millennium BC to the VIII-XII centuries AD, is a topical issue in terms of the ethnogenesis of our nation. One of the historical facts is that ethnoses engraved toponyms in history by naming the areas inhabited by them by their ethnic names. Therefore, the fact that the ethnic names of the ancient Turkic, Sumerian and Albanian ethnoses are found in the territory of Azerbaijan in modern times is evidence that these places belong to our ancestors. Key words: Ancient Turks, Caucasian Albania, Sumerians, ancient toponyms, ethnic history

Sinop Landscapes: Towards an Archaeology of Community in the Hinterland of a Black Sea Port

2010 ◽  
Vol 16 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 175-187
Author(s):  
Owen Doonan
Keyword(s):  
Black Sea ◽  
Community Integration ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Economic Expansion ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Sudden Appearance ◽  
Archaeological Project ◽  
First Millennium Bc ◽  
Roman Administration

Abstract This paper discusses the evidence for economic and community integration on the Sinop promontory from the early first millennium BC through the middle of the first millennium AD based on the results of the Sinop Regional Archaeological Project. Results suggest that settlement and economy on the Sinop promontory were strongly affected by the broader condition of the Black Sea economy. Contrary to the sudden appearance of colonial sites dispersed over a relatively extensive territory seen in other important Pontic colonies (e.g. Olbia), evidence from Sinop suggests several centuries of disengagement followed by a progressive engagement between Greek and non-Greek communities following the extension of Persian influence in the eastern Pontus in the early fourth century. Infrastructural improvements under early Roman administration may not have been followed immediately by economic expansion, which seems to have taken off after the establishment of Constantinople.

The zooarchaeology of early historic periods in the southern Levant

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Whitcher Kansa ◽  
Justin E. Lev-Tov
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Southern Levant ◽  
Iron Age Ii ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
First Millennium Bc ◽  
Data Documentation ◽  
Broad Scale ◽  
Early Historic

This chapter explores the zooarchaeology of the southern Levant over a 3,000-year period, from the late fourth to the mid-first millennium bc. Highlighting contributions from zooarchaeological research, we explore broad-scale issues related to the archaeology and history of the region. Examples include the intersection of states and animal economies, religion and diet/sacrifice, ethnic foodways, and the appearance of new domesticates. Since much zooarchaeological research engages with the region’s archaeology by being contextually and historically grounded, we have organized this chapter chronologically, from the Early Bronze I to the Iron Age II. We also summarize the geography and history of zooarchaeological practice in the region. We close with recommendations for future research in Levantine zooarchaeology, including closer integration with archaeobotany and other related disciplines, as well as more formalized practices around data documentation and dissemination.

A goddess among Storm-gods. The stele of Tavşantepe and the landscape monuments of southern Cappadocia

2015 ◽  
Vol 65 ◽  
pp. 79-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Lanaro
Keyword(s):  
Eighth Century ◽  
Central Anatolia ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Taurus Mountains ◽  
Artistic Production ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
First Millennium Bc ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractLittle is known about the geo-political landscape of central Anatolia after the collapse of the Hittite Empire. In particular, almost no archaeological evidence for stone monumental art dating to the post-Hittite period north of the Taurus mountains has survived. Now, the stele of Tavşantepe sheds new light on the history of southern Cappadocia during the so-called ‘dark age’ and offers us a unique insight into the artistic production of this region at the beginning of the first millennium BC. Moreover, its location along one of the most important routes connecting southern Cappadocia with central Anatolia, the Altunhisar valley, helps us reconstruct the socio-religious developments in this area in the period predating the emergence of the Neo-Hittite Kingdom of Tuwana in the eighth century BC.

scholarly journals Dämonen als „Krankheitserreger“ in den sumerisch-akkadischen Beschwörungen des Muššu᾿u-Handbuches

2019 ◽  
pp. 323
Author(s):  
Manuela Perl
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
First Millennium Bc

This paper discusses the ancient Mesopotamian phenomenon of demons as „pathogens“, taking for example the so-called Muššu᾿u manual, which contains Sumerian as well as Akkadian incantations. The oldest texts contained therein date back to the first millennium BC, the youngest to the fourth century BC. Based on these incantations, it will be clarified which demons are mentioned by name and what kind of knowledge the texts reveal about demonic beings.

Pre-Roman Iron Age Boats and Rocks in the North: Reality and ReXection

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Coles
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Recent Analysis ◽  
Northern Europe ◽  
The West ◽  
The North ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
First Millennium Bc ◽  
Eastern Seaboard

This chapter is offered to Barry Cunliffe as a token of the respect that I have for his immense contribution to studies of the European Iron Age. Our research interests have sometimes overlapped, at the Glastonbury and Meare Lake Villages for example, but in general we have pursued different lines and areas of enquiry. Yet he has been unfailing in support of numerous projects undertaken in foreign Welds and none, perhaps, more foreign than the study of rock carvings in northern Europe, a long way from his beloved Atlantic lands. In 2003 an important documentation on north European late first millennium BC boats appeared, ably assembled and in part authored by Ole Crumlin-Pedersen and his collaborator Athena Trakadas. The boats, dated to the Pre-Roman Iron Age of the north, have been named after a famous discovery at Hjortspring, on the island of Als in southern Denmark. Here, in 1880 or thereabouts, fragments of planking were revealed by peat-digging, along with iron and bone spearheads; all were either burnt on the spot or discarded by the finders, and there the matter rested until a local antiquarian heard of the discovery and alerted the authorities. This led in the 1920s to a remarkable excavation, far ahead of its time in the technical recovery of the surviving evidence, in the documentation of stratigraphy and context, and in the conservation procedures devised. The history of the Hjortspring boat and its huge array of equipment need not delay us here as it is well set out in the primary report (Rosenberg 1937), in a recent analysis (Randsborg 1995) and in the book noted above (Crumlin- Pedersen and Trakadas 2003).What has intrigued me, and I hope will intrigue Barry, is the location of the Hjortspring deposit, the boat lying not by the present or the Iron Age seashore of the island of Als, but near one of the highest points on the island, and well inland. It was deposited in a pond, now a small peatbog some 50m in diameter, about 40–45m above sea level, and some two km from the eastern seaboard and about five km from the Als Fjord on the west.

Early sculptural traditions in West Africa: new evidence from the Chad Basin of north-eastern Nigeria

Antiquity ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 82 (316) ◽  
pp. 423-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Breunig ◽  
Gabriele Franke ◽  
Michael Nüsse
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Chad Basin ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
First Millennium Bc ◽  
New Evidence

Thanks to a number of well-stratified sequences, the authors can offer a new history of clay image-making in West Africa. From the first known human occupation in the second millennium BC, the shaped clay figurines remain remarkably conservative, suggesting their use as offerings, toys or in games or some role rooted in domestic everyday life. Only in the late first millennium BC and in one area (Walasa) does a more formal art emerge in north-eastern Nigeria, a development contemporary with the famous Nok culture further south.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document