Babylonian Celestial Forecasting - Essay Example

Raphael Babylonian Celestial Forecasting As far as 800 BC, the ancient Babylonians had made observations and estimations on the movement of heavenly bodies, particularly the moon and sun1. The efforts put on the ancient astronomy were intended to create an accurate calendar for agricultural practices. In particular, the Chaldeans or priest-astronomers used the movement of the moon and the sun to track the procession of the seasons. The ancient Babylonians astronomers were also motivated by their religious beliefs and philosophical incentive in recording the motion and appearances of heavenly bodies in the earth’s sky. Early Babylonian astronomers recorded precession of equinoxes, eclipses, constellations, and the apparent ecliptic path movement followed by the moon, planets, and sun2. Apparently, the early scientific interest of the ancient Babylonians was concerned with the prediction of the motion and appearances of heavenly bodies in connection with their fate. It was believed then that constellations and astronomical sightings may foretell or affect human fate. It is in this regard that Babylonian astronomy has always been regarded as “unscientific.” Babylonian star-gazers had centred their attention to the motion of the moon. They were aware that their lunar calendar does not occur with the solar year and once in every six years, they used to interpolate an added month for calendar adjustment3. Chaldeans used water clocks and gnomons to plot celestial events, including the phases of the moon, sunrise, sunset, and eclipses4. A tablet of Ammi-sadugam illustrates the appearances of the planet Venus in the earth sky over the year. The Enuma Anu Enlil(tablets) contains centuries of observations, implying the awareness of Chaldeans on the periodicity of celestial phenomena5. The recorded observations on the movement of heavenly bodies had paved the way toward the prediction of the recurrence of celestial events. In 747-733 BC, during the reign of Nabonassar, Chaldeans made a number of accurate celestial observations, such as the discovery that lunar eclipses are locked into a nineteen-year cycle, naming of the zodiac signs alongside the elliptical plane6. As well, in the reign of Seleucid Empire, Babylonians employed “Goal Year” tests in predicting planetary motions and formulated complex mathematical functions in making forecasts of cosmological events without consulting the records of celestial events plane7. Since these predictions were typically led by priests, they leaved a magical impression to the general population, making astronomy in many cultures around the world as the foundation of religion. Meanwhile, Selucius of Selucia theorised that the sun is at the centre of the universe. He also associated the height and timing of tides with the sun and the moon. It was believed that just like other Chaldeans, Selucius drawn conclusions from his observations and reasoning. Thus, the cosmological practice and incentive of the early Babylonian astronomers involved religious and philosophical enterprise of observation, prediction, and reasoning. Accordingly, one can argue that the present practice of scientific method has its roots in the methodological observation and predictive techniques of the ancient astronomers. Chaldeans had greatly contributed to cosmological endeavour with regard to divination and forecasting8. It has been popular to say that Babylonians had been engaged with the study of stars or “astrologos” for many centuries past. Chaldeans used “astrologos” in forecasting, through which they were able to produce ephemerides for some planets and the moon9. Their cosmological knowledge was used to arrange a favourable time for various social events such as elections and marriage. Undoubtedly, while the Babylonians merely observed for the purposes of determining important events, their forecasting activities was nevertheless transformed into a scientific theory, explaining the manner by which the Heavens appear.10 It has been recognized that the Babylonians were the first to produce a systematic observation of the way the Heavens appear, discussing the arrangement by focusing on the two poles, the presence of the equator and the twelve signs of the Zodiac. In the same manner, the said observation reflects how the twelve Zodiac constellations complete their path with every revolution of the heavens.11 Babylonia had progressed from the fear of unexplained phenomena through a primordial form of scientific analysis. This was taken place under the religious domain in addition with the governance of the state. Ancient Babylonians even regarded the natural phenomena as manifestations of their gods. An Antique dating back to around 3,000 BC revealed that the Babylonian civilization has personified natural phenomena into their gods12. This indicated Babylonians’ consciousness on the “nature of things,” which is a fundamental element to a scientific understanding. Hence, the use of scientific method had begun even if those who had unknowingly worked it out were unacquainted on the nature of science. The relics of the Babylonian civilisation unveiled how a primordial form of science emerged from a cultural mythology13. Babylonians’ religious belief had catalysed a civilization’s curiosity toward a methodological way of understanding natural phenomena. The only goal of Babylonian astronomy, as discussed earlier, was prediction14. The Chaldeans had wanted to discover the reason behind the motion of heavenly bodies and the connection of such movement in their fate. Their interest, desire, or need for such knowledge was inspired long before the technological means to uncover the underpinning reason or principle for such phenomena has been devised. Nevertheless, Babylonians had succeeded in predicting the time of recurrence of periodic celestial events by charting and applying mathematical formulations15. Once again, this reflects the nature of the system of celestial forecasting prevalent in the Babylonian society. True enough, these people have regard the importance of celestial forecasting (observing the heavens) to merely predict important events and at the same time, honour their Gods. It is these observations, however, that contributed to the development of Science which enabled them to explain the heavens.16 With respect to computational techniques, predictive power, and observational basis, Babylonian astronomy, using the current criteria for science, was a scientific endeavour. However, it lacked theoretical explanations because the Babylonian astronomers did not attempt to uncover the underpinning reason or principle in the movement of celestial bodies. In line with this, a couple of arguments have been used to discredit Babylonian astronomy as a scientific one. One of these is the notion that, a successful prediction of the recurrence of a celestial event can hardly lead the way toward understanding it. Another point raised is, the Babylonians’ alleged ‘science’ was confined with the realm of myth or mythological interpretation of cosmological phenomena, which is unscientific in nature and merely based on speculation. Nonetheless, it can hardly be denied that Babylonians’ nature of inquiry produced practical knowledge, indicated by star lists and lunar calendar; employed natural phenomena to communicate with their gods; and utilised a complex arithmetical methods in describing planetary astronomy17. In addition thereto, the concept of Science as reflected in the manner by which the Babylonians carry out Celestial Forecasting, is evident from the manner by which they impart their knowledge to the next generation which is generally a form of intellectual revolution.18 The Babylonians’ astronomical methods and techniques, along with the body of knowledge on which such methods and techniques were derived from, were formulated and devised by an elite group of specialists. Although the Babylonian astronomy was merely initiated and motivated by religious belief and mythological curiosity, the endeavour was evidently an intellectual tradition of diverse content, involving medical text, forecasting, incantation, and magic. In particular, Babylonians’ personification of celestial events into god is a manifestation of their attempts to describe and understand celestial phenomena by associating them into god. Therefore celestial bodies were represented as gods not merely as objects of worship, but to some extent as theoretical representation of the phenomena. Overall, Babylonian celestial forecasting is a scientific endeavour with respect to that era of civilisation. Bibliography Clarke, Leonard W. “Greek Astronomy and Its Debt to the Babylonians.” The British Journal for the History of Science 1, 1 (1962): 65-77. McMullin, Ernan. “The Goals of Natural Science.” Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association 58, 1(1984): 37-64. Neugebauer, O. “The History of Ancient Astronomy Problems and Methods.” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 4, 1 (1945): 1-38. Toulmin, S.E. and Goodfield, J. The Fabric Heavens: The Development of Astronomy and Dynamics. US: University of Chicago Press. Read More