Reading the “Heavenly Writing”: Observational astronomy in ancient Assyria and Babylonia

Wolfson AstroClub talk (abstract below) followed by telescope observing, if the weather allows.

In ancient Assyria and Babylonia, two empires with their heartlands along the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, scholars made nightly observations of astronomical phenomena, including the movements of the planets, eclipses, and even comets. To some degree, these scholars were interpreting these phenomena as divine messages, sometimes framed as “heavenly writing”, about events to come in the human sphere, enabling them to advise rulers on major decisions like whether or not to go to war. Eventually, the accumulation of observations gave rise to new ways of interpreting and using data, including the development of the zodiac and the earliest known examples of mathematical astronomy.

This talk will offer a survey of the works left behind by these early astronomers on clay tablets and the legacy of their work.