Babylon Astrology Interpretation

Babylon Astrology Interpretation: the beginning. The practice of astronomy in Babylonian times was significantly different from the practice of astronomy now. We just have text and a few diagrams to go on, and that’s about it for information. Astronomical instruments have not yet been found throughout the universe.

Babylon Astrology Interpretation: the beginning
Babylon Astrology Interpretation: the beginning

To record these texts on clay tablets, the Near East used Sumerian script, which dates back to around 3000 BCE and was in use until 100 CE. It was thought to have been lost until the middle of the nineteenth century, when it was ultimately deciphered and discovered.

Archaeological excavations in present-day Iraq have uncovered hundreds of thousands of clay tablets, which are thought to date back thousands of years. The tablets that deal with astronomy may be discovered in a few thousand of them. The fact is that there are many more tasks that need to be performed. And, of course, there are many more buried under Iraq’s sands as a result of the war.

Interpretation

Although it is not called a science, the objective of the Babylonian academics may be described more accurately as “knowledge of the sky,” regardless of whether it is deemed such.

It’s critical to begin with the astral side of religion before moving on. However, the gods are not the only ones who may show themselves to us via the stars, and they are not the only ones who do so. Additionally, the gods, as depicted by their cult statues, may be found in the temples. Astral prayers may be addressed to gods, and incantations can make use of the celestial energies of the constellations to accomplish their goals.

Astronomical knowledge, on the other hand, has no influence on these religious practices. Even if some individuals are attracted by the movements of the stars, the calendar and the method in which we measure time are important to almost everyone. The beginning of a month in the Babylonian calendar is marked by the first apparition of the lunar crescent after a period of invisibility.

The first written languages were developed in Africa and the Middle East by about 3000 BCE. Calendars and maps were made by the ancient Egyptians and the Sumerians in southern Mesopotamia, which is part of modern-day Iraq. These show that the ancient Egyptians had divided the year into 365 days of 12 months and later divided the day into 24 hours.

According to the Sumerians, they could identify which constellation the Sun was in by looking at the first constellation to set after it. The Sun rotates through the zodiacal constellations once a year, completing one complete rotation in the process.

The Sumerian calendar system and the names of the stars were retained by their descendants when Sumer became a part of Babylon during the course of the following hundred years.

In Babylonia, not only the king’s horoscopes were prepared, but also the horoscopes of private persons. The general public now has greater access to astronomical predictions than they had before. In these works, it is obvious that astronomy is being utilized by members of the common population.

Late Babylonian astrological writings are distinguished by the following two characteristics:

  1. The twelve equal signs of the Zodiac, each having a degree of 30 degrees. The Zodiac was not developed until the 5th century BC; before that, the Babylonians had around 17 constellations along the ecliptic.
  1. The second component is nativities, which are personal prophecies based on cosmic occurrences that occurred at the time of birth. Private prophecies, in contrast to the Babylonian practice of omens from the sky, which only pertain to the king or the whole community, represent a significant departure from this tradition.

In Babylonia, the practice of astrology was established, and it is based on the identification of celestial bodies with gods from the pantheon. The sun and the moon are still considered deities, so we remain within the realm of common and fundamental thought as long as we continue to address them as such. When we extend this to include the planets and stars, however, we have gone beyond the realm of possibility.

This difficulty arises from the nature of animism, which is unquestionably an important step in the formation of religious ideas, even if it is not considered to be the starting point. However, even if it is not considered to be the starting point, animism is clearly an important step in the formation of religious ideas, even if it is not considered to be the starting point.

The beginning of Babylonian astrology

Scientists have discovered some evidence of the practice of astrology in Babylon in the third millennium BC. However, the oldest evidence of an ordered astrological system is from the second millennium BC. Some 70 Babylonian cuneiform tablets dating from the 1700s BC list more than 7,000 celestial objects in the sky. At that time, astrology focused on what was going on in the night sky, because the future movements of the planets were difficult to predict.

In Babylon, priests often used astrology to determine the will of the gods. They also used another method of examining the livers of sacrificed animals, then interpreting the meaning in terms of the observed dark spots.

The Babylonian system of astrology contains many elements that may be familiar to us. They divided the fixed stars into three groups Anu, Enlil, and Ea based on where they rose on the Eastern horizon. The Babylonians initially classified 18 constellations among these fixed stars, but they later focused on the 12 most important. They were inherited by the Greeks and became the constellations in Western astrology today.

The Babylonians recognized five planets along with the Sun and the Moon. They associated the planets with different gods: Jupiter to Marduk, Venus to Ishtar, Saturn to Ninurta, Mercury to Nabu, Mars to Nergal, the Sun to Shamash and the Sun moon with the god Sin.

The movement of the Sun, Moon and five planets through the constellations in the sky symbolizes the activities of these gods, and also contains the message that the gods want to send to humans. When interpreting astrological signs, priests are primarily concerned with the fate of the country and the longevity of the king – the most important figure. 

The Babylonian method of interpretation is mainly based on past events, namely events that occurred when similar astronomical phenomena appeared. They also used the personality traits of the gods [associated with the planets] and stories involving different constellations to decipher messages from the sky.

The Babylonian practice of taking personal horoscopes began around 400 BC, after the Persians took over the area. The Babylonians believed that horoscopes could predict a person’s personality and life based on the positions of the planets and stars at the time of their birth.

Read also: Babylonian Astrology, origin, history; Planets in Babylonian astrology; Astrology in ancient Mesopotamia