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System of interpretation

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Astral medicine

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Astrology was also incredibly important in a practice known as astral medicine. According to a kalendartext discovered, belonging to a mašmaššu priest in the late Babylonian period of Uruk named Iqīšâ, different remedies are created for patients for different days, depending on the date.

Month IV: First twelve lines of Iqīšâ's kalendartexte[1]
1 Ares 7 Sheep-blood, sheep-fat, and sheep-hair, you anoint.
2 Capricorn 14 Goat-blood, goat-fat, and goat hair, you anoint.
3 Libra 21 "Empty place", you anoint.
4 Cancer 28 Crab-blood, or crab-fat, you anoint.
5 Taurus 5 Bull-blood, or bull-fat, or bull-hair, you anoint.
6 Aquarius 12 Eagle-head, wing, and blood, you anoint.
7 Scorpio 19 "Empty place", you anoint.
8 Leo 26 Lion-blood, lion-fat, or lion-hair, you anoint.
9 Gemini 3 Rooster-head, blood, and wing, you anoint.
10 Pisces 10 Dove-head, blood, swallow-head, blood, you anoint.
11 Sagittarius 17 Anzu(-bird?)-head, Anzu(-bird?)-wing, Anzu(-bird)-blood, you anoint.
12 Virgo 24 šigušu-barley-flour, raven-head, and raven-wing, you anoint.

Steele acknowledges that it is entirely possible that the practice of astral medicine is nothing more than a theoretical practice, devised by scholars of the time. Since several of the parts would have been expensive or otherwise impossible for the average Babylonian to obtain, this raises two possible situations. It is very possible that the whole concept of astral medicine in terms of the kalendartexte and other such sources were, as previously stated, simply theory and never intended for real use. However, Babylonian medicine contains a tradition known as Dreckapotheke, wherein the names of common ingredients are given names of often unpleasant sounding ones. It is also within the realm of possibility that the ingredients listed in the kalendartexte are following this tradition. [1]

Animal ingredients for each sign in Iqīšâ's kalendartexte[1]
Zodiacal Sign Normal Babylonian Name Ingredient
Aries The Hired Man Sheep
Taurus The Stars (Pleiades) Bull
Gemini The Twin Rooster
Cancer The Crab Crab
Leo The Lion Lion
Virgo The Barleystalk Barley-flour, Raven
Libra The Balance "empty"
Scorpio The Scorpion "empty"
Sagittarius Pabilsag Anzu-bird
Capricorn The Goat-fish Goat
Aquarius The Great One Eagle
Pisces The Tails Dove, Swallow

Astrology and the calendar

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(From left to right) Ashur, Ishtar, Sin, Enlil, Shamash, Adad, and Ishtar of Arbela are flanked by two star-worshippers

The calendar and astrology were very interconnected. When creating the calendar for the next month or year, it was important to keep in mind where important festivals and other religious activities would fall. [1] It seems that four nearby, surrounding countries contributed to each twelve-month calendar year: Elam, Amurru, Subartu, and Akkad.[2] The months were divided intro groups of three, alternating by four, evenly split among the four lands. The first, fifth, and ninth months belonged to Akkad, the second, sixth, and tenth belonged to Elam, the third, seventh, and eleventh belonged to Amurru, and the fourth, eighth, and twelfth belonged to Subartu. Days of each month follows the same pattern, beginning with one for Akkad, two for Elam, three for Amurru, four for Subartu, five for Akkad, and so on.[2] As calendars were often created by priests, months that would come with rather unfavorable events were limited, especially prioritizing against eclipses and new moons; this practice also carried over into scheduling the days of each month. [2] The moon was rather important to Mesopotamian peoples, often it was what they based their calendar on. Lunar omens were among the most commonplace and, most often, they were based on eclipses rather than simple visibility. [3] Deities of Mesopotamia were associated with certain times, days, and months.

In more mythological belief, at the end of each day, the sun god, Shamash, retired to "the lap of heaven" to rest. [4]

  1. ^ a b c d Steele, John M. (July 26, 2011). "Astronomy and culture in Late Babylonian Uruk†". Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union. 7 (S278): 331–341. doi:10.1017/s1743921311012774. ISSN 1743-9221.
  2. ^ a b c Jastrow, Morris (1910). "Months and Days in Babylonian-Assyrian Astrology". The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures. 26 (3): 151–155.
  3. ^ Al-Rawi, F. N. H.; George, A. R. (1991). "Enūma Anu Enlil XIV and Other Early Astronomical Tables". Archiv für Orientforschung. 38/39: 52–73.
  4. ^ Heimpel, Wolfgang (1986). "The Sun at Night and the Doors of Heaven in Babylonian Texts". Journal of Cuneiform Studies. 38 (2): 127–151. doi:10.2307/1359796.