The Mesopotamian Wind-Star Directions and a Compass Card from Uruk
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jsa.v1i2.28256Keywords:
Babylonia, cosmic geography, cuneiform, Uruk, wind directionsAbstract
This paper looks at Ancient Mesopotamian cultural geography and asks how the Babylonians used the winds, rivers, Sun and stars to determine what we call the cardinal directions and hence, to determine their place in the universe. The two main sources considered here are the British Museum tablet BM 92687, better known as “The Babylonian Map of the World” and what has been called “The Uruk Compass Card”, from the Persian or Hellenistic period. Our discussion will ultimately lead us away from maps on clay into the realm of Ancient Mesopotamian instruments that may be compared with modern sundials, weathervanes and other such apparatuses for determining the place of the “rising of the winds”.
Downloads
References
Brack-Bernsen, L. and H. Hunger, 1999. “The Babylonian Zodiac: Speculations on its Invention and Significance”. Centaurus 41(4): 280–292. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0498.1999.tb00425.x
Britton J., 2002. “Treatments of Annual Phenomena in Cuneiform Sources”. In Under One Sky, Astronomy and Mathematics in the Ancient Near East, edited by J. Steele and A. Imhausen, 21–78. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 297. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag.
Cohen M. E., 1993. The Cultic Calendars of the Ancient Near East. Bethesda, MD: CDL Press.
Draffkorn-Kilmer A., 1964. “The Use of Akkadian DKŠ in Old Babylonian Geometry Texts”. In Studies Presented to A. Leo Oppenheim, edited by R. D. Briggs and J. A. Brinkman, 140–146. Chicago: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.
Finkel, I. and M. Seymour (eds), 2008. Babylon: Myth and Reality. London: British Museum Press.
George, A., 1992. Babylonian Topographical Texts. Leuven: Department Oriëntalistiek and Uitgeverij Peeters.
George, A., 1999. The Epic of Gilgamesh: The Babylonian Epic Poem and Other Texts in Akkadian and Sumerian. London: Allen Lane.
Horowitz, W., 1997. “The Great Wall of Sargon of Akkad”. Nouvelles Assyriologiques Brèves et Utilitaires 1997(3): 98.
Horowitz, W., 2004. “Review of H. Hunger, Abraham J. Sachs and John M. Steele. Astronomical Diaries and Related Texts from Babylonia, vol. 5: Lunar and Planetary Texts”. Zeitschrift fur Assyriologie 94: 143–146.
Horowitz, W., 2011. Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography. 2nd printing, with corrections. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.
Horowitz W. 2014. The Three Stars Each: The Astrolabes and Related Texts. Archiv für Orientforschung Beiheft 33. Horn, Austria: Verlag Ferdinand Berger and Söhne Gesellschaft MBH.
Hunger, H and D. Pingree, 1989. MUL.APIN, An Astronomical Compendium in Cuneiform. Archiv für Orientforschung Beiheft 24. Horn: Verlag Ferdinand Berger and Söhne Gesellschaft MBH.
Hunger H. and D. Pingree, 1999. Astral Sciences in Mesopotamia. Leiden: Brill. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/9789004294134
Izre’el, S., 2001. Adapa and the South Wind: Language Has the Power of Life and Death. Eisenbrauns, IN: Winona Lake.
Kramer, S., 1956. From the Tablets of Sumer. Indian Hills, CO: Falcon Wing’s Press.
Labat, R., 1976. Manuel d’epigraphie akkadienne. Paris: Librarie Orientaliste Paul Guethner.
Lambert W. G., 1960. Babylonian Wisdom Literature. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Livingstone, A., 1986. Mystical and Mythological Explanatory Works of Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Millard, A. R., 1987. “Cartography in the Ancient Near East”. In The History of Cartography, vol. 1: Cartography in Prehistoric, Ancient, and Medieval Europe and the Mediterranean, edited by J. B. Harley and D. Woodward, 107–114. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Meek, T. J., 1935. Excavations at Nuzi II: Old Akkadian, Sumerian, and Cappadocian Texts from Nuzi. Harvard Semitic Studies 10. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Roaf, M., 1990. Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East. New York: Facts on File.
Rochberg F., 2012. “The Expression of Terrestrial and Celestial Order in Ancient Mesopotamia”. In Ancient Perspectives: Maps and Their Place in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome, edited by R. Talbert, 9–46. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226789408.003.0002
Sachs, A. and H. Hunger, 1988. Astronomical Diaries and Related Texts from Babylonia, vol. 1: Diaries from 652 BC to 262 BC. Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
Sachs, A. and H. Hunger, 1989. Astronomical Diaries and Related Texts from Babylonia, vol. 2, Diaries from 261 BC to 165 BC. Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschafteb.
Schechner, S., 2001. “The Material Culture of Astronomy in Daily Life: Sundials, Science, and Social Change”. Journal for the History of Astronomy 32: 189–222. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/002182860103200302
Steele J. M., 2013. “Shadow-Length Schemes in Babylonian Astronomy”. SCIAMVS 14: 3–39.
Unger E., 1935. “Ancient Babylonian Maps and Plans”. Antiquity 9: 311–322.
van Dijk, J. A. and W. R. Mayer, 1980. Texte aus dem Res-Heiligtum in Uruk-Warka. Berlin: Baghdader Mitteilungen.
