The circulation of astronomical knowledge in the ancient world

595 Pages·2016·3.461 MB·English

by  Steele, John M.

TheCirculationofAstronomicalKnowledgeintheAncientWorld
Time, Astronomy, and Calendars
texts and studies
Editors
CharlesBurnett
SachaStern
EditorialBoard
DáibhíÓCróinín–BennovanDalen–GadFreudenthal–TonyGrafton
LeofrancHolford-Strevens–BernardR.Goldstein–AlexanderJones
DarynLehoux–JörgRüpke–JulioSamsó–ShlomoSela–JohnSteele
volume6
Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.com/tac
The Circulation of
Astronomical Knowledge in
the Ancient World
Editedby
JohnM.Steele
leiden | boston
Coverillustration:Detailfrommlc1860,aNormalStarAlmanacfromUrukfortheyears.e.82
(229–228b.c.).CourtesyYaleBabylonianCollection.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Names:Steele,JohnM.,editor.
Title:Thecirculationofastronomicalknowledgeintheancientworld/editedbyJohnM.Steele.
Description:Leiden;Boston:Brill,2016.|Series:Time,astronomy,andcalendars;6|Includes
bibliographicalreferencesandindex.
Identifiers:LCCN2016006996(print)|LCCN2016007877(ebook)|ISBN9789004315617(hardback:alk.
paper)|ISBN9789004315631(E-book)
Subjects:LCSH:Astronomy,Ancient.
Classification:LCCQB16.C572016(print)|LCCQB16(ebook)|DDC520.93–dc23
LCrecordavailableathttp://lccn.loc.gov/2016006996
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Contents
ListofFiguresandTables vii
Introduction 1
1 TheBrownSchooloftheHistoryofScience:Historiographyandthe
AstralSciences 5
FrancescaRochberg
2 AstralKnowledgeinanInternationalAge:Transmissionofthe
CuneiformTradition,ca.1500–1000b.c. 18
MatthewT.Rutz
3 TraditionsofMesopotamianCelestial-DivinatorySchemesandthe
4thTabletofŠummaSininaTāmartišu 55
ZackaryWainer
4 TheCirculationofAstronomicalKnowledgebetweenBabylonand
Uruk 83
JohnM.Steele
5 TheMicro-ZodiacinBabylonandUruk:SeleucidZodiacal
Astrology 119
M.WillisMonroe
6 VirtualMoonsoverBabylonia:TheCalendarTextSystem,Its
Micro-Zodiacof13,andtheMakingofMedicalZodiology 139
JohnZ.Wee
7 OntheConcomitancyoftheSeeminglyIncommensurable,orWhy
EgyptianAstralTraditionNeedstobeAnalyzedwithinItsCultural
Context 230
JoachimFriedrichQuack
8 SomeAstrologersandTheirHandbooksinDemoticEgyptian 245
AndreasWinkler
vi contents
9 TheAnaphoricusofHypsiclesofAlexandria 287
ClemencyMontelle
10 InterpolatedObservationsandHistoricalObservationalRecordsin
Ptolemy’sAstronomy 316
AlexanderJones
11 MesopotamianLunarOmensinJustinian’sConstantinople 350
ZoëMisiewicz
12 AParallelUniverse:TheTransmissionofAstronomicalTerminology
inEarlyChineseAlmanacs 396
EthanHarkness
13 MercuryandtheCaseforPluralPlanetaryTraditionsinEarlyImperial
China 416
DanielPatrickMorgan
14 CalendricalSystemsinEarlyImperialChina:Reform,Evaluationand
Tradition 451
YuzhenGuan
15 TheTwelveSignsoftheZodiacduringtheTangandSongDynasties:A
SetofSignsWhichLostTheirMeaningswithinChineseHoroscopic
Astrology 478
ShenmiSong
16 OntheDunhuangManuscriptp.4071:ACaseStudyontheSinicization
ofWesternHoroscopeinLate10thCenturyChina 527
WeixingNiu
17 WerePlanetaryModelsofAncientIndiaStronglyInfluencedbyGreek
Astronomy? 559
DennisDuke
IndexofModernAuthors 577
IndexofSubjects 579
IndexofSources 582
List of Figures and Tables
Figures
3.1 k8088obverse 74
3.2 k8088reverse 75
5.1 Layoutoftypicalmicro-zodiactabletsfromUruk(vat7847+)andBabylon
(bm34572) 135
6.1 DodekatemoriaandCalendarTextSchemes 144
6.2 TheMicro-zodiacasCompressionoftheZodiac 158
6.3 The‘Micro-zodiacof13’ 165
6.4 CalendarTextDatesandMicro-ZodiacalSigns 166
6.5 TheSun’s‘Micro-Zodiacof13’inTabletbrm iv,19 173
6.6 TheCalendarTextSystem 174
6.7 PrescriptionsandCombinationsofMicro-zodiacalandZodiacalSigns 186
6.8 PhotoofReverseSideofTabletbm56605 215
6.9 DiagramofAstrologicalTableonTabletbm56605,Reverse 216
6.10 ReinterpretingtheCuneiforminAstrologicalTable(bm56605,Reverse)Row
2 217
9.1 Circulardiagramdepictingtherisingtimesineachzodiacalsign(redrawn
fromthediagraminVat.Gr.204f.135v) 296
10.1 AconjecturalschemeforPtolemy’sreceptionofhistoricalplanetary
observations 325
10.2 Asimpleepicyclicmodelforaninferiorplanet,shownapproximatelyto
scaleforVenus 331
10.3 Ptolemy’sequantmodelforVenus 332
10.4 LocationsofMercuryonthedatesofsurvivingBabylonianNormalStar
observations 340
10.5 LocationsofmeanSunonthedatesofsurvivingBabylonianNormalStar
observationsofMercury 341
10.6 LocationsofMercuryrelativetoNormalStarondatesofsurviving
Babylonianobservations 342
10.7 LocationsofVenusrelativetoNormalStarondatesofsurvivingBabylonian
observations 343
10.8 GreatestelongationsofMercuryfrommeanSuncomputedbymodern
theoryfor270–258bc 346
13.1 RisetimesandvisibilityphenomenaforMercury(203b.c.) 424
13.2 Wuxingzhanplanetaryhemerology(year1of60) 425
13.3 Thetwenty-eightlodges‘ancientduwidths’ 426
viii list of figures and tables
13.4 Limodelpredictionofpositionandvisibilityfora.d.5–6 430
16.1 Anatalchartfromqyrzjofthe9thcentury 542
16.2 AnatalchartfromtheZokuGunshoRuiju 544
16.3 Atentativereconstructionofthep.4071natalchart 545
17.1 TheAlmagestequantplusepicycleforanouterplanet.TheEarthisato,the
equantpointisate,thecenterofthedeferentisatd(themidpointofoe),
thecenteroftheepicycleisonthedeferentatc,andtheplanetisatp.
Calculationofthelengthsr ,r , andD intermsofe,r,andtheanglesa
1 2 2
andg ,andapplicationofthelawofsinestothetrianglesoecandocp,yield
theequationsqandp. 561
17.2 Theconcentricequantmodel.TheEarthandthecenterofthedeferentare
ato,andtheequantpointisate.Theplanetisatp. 563
17.3 Theepicyclemodel.TheEarthandthecenterofthedeferentareato,and
theequantpointisate.Theplanetisatp. 563
17.4 ThedifferencebetweenthelongitudesofJupiterpredictedbymodern
theoryandthosepredictedbytheequantmodel(opencircles),theeccentre
plusepicyclemodel(solidcircles),andtheIndian(sunrise)model(solid
line),usingthesame(Almagest)parametersforallthreeancientmodels.
TheequantandIndianmodelsareverynearlycoincidentinthefigure,while
theeccentremodeldifferssignificantlyfromboth. 567
17.5 AsinFig.17.4exceptforMars.NotethatforMarstheIndianmodelnow
differsnoticeablyfromtheequant,butisanevenpoorermatchtothe
eccentre. 568
17.6 TheconcentricequanthastheEarthato,theplanetatsonadeferentof
radiusr,andtheequantate.Theequivalentsimpleeccentrichasan
eccentricdeferentalsoofradiusrbutcenteredatd,andtheplanetisnowat
t.Sinceesanddtareparallelbothmodelshavethesamemeancentrum
(anglesfdtanddes),andsinceostisastraightline,thesandthavethe
samepositionasseenfromtheEarthandsobothmodelshavethesametrue
centrum(angleseosanddot). 572
17.7 TheeccentrichasadeferentcircleofradiusrcenteredatdwiththeEarthat
oandtheSunorMoonatc.AssumingR=1 ,thedistance
r = (esina )2+(1+ecosa )2 .Byconventiong =a +q ,sointhe
configurationshownq<0 .Thenthelawofsinesgives
- sinq sina sign
= =
e r R . 573
list of figures and tables ix
Tables
2.1 Sectiontopicsofthethematiclexicaltextur₅-ra=ḫubullu(Ura)withtheir
correspondingmajordivisionsintheearlysecondmillennium(Old
BabylonianversionfromNippur),latersecondmillennium(Middle
Babylonianversion),andfirstmillennium(Standardversion)b.c. 23
3.1 Celestialdivinatoryschemesinsit4andparallels 59
3.2 Schemescandc′ 61
3.3 Month–landschemes 63
4.1 Aroughcomparisonofthenumbersofdifferentgenresofastronomicaltexts
atBabylonandUruk 86
4.2 ‘Observational’textsfromUruk 93
4.3 AlmanacsandNormalStarAlmanacsfromUruk 101
4.4 OverlappingdataontheNormalStarAlmanacsmlc1860fromBabylonand
Rm731+fromBabylon 103
4.5 Numberandattesteddaterangesfortabletscontaininglunarandplanetary
synodicandauxiliarytablesatBabylonandUruk.Datemarkedwitha*
indicatethatthetabletisbrokenatthebeginning/endandsothedaterange
oftheoriginaltableextendedearlier/later. 107
4.6 AcomparisonofthepreservedHoroscopesfromBabylonandUruk 111
5.1 TheMicro-ZodiacScheme 124
5.2 Catalogueofmicro-zodiactablets 127
8.1 LeftCtYBR1132verso;Right:P.Carlsb.420 262
8.2 LeftP.Cair.ii31220andP.Tebt.Tait22;RightP.Carlsb.420 276
11.1 Apodosesassociatedwithlunareclipseordimness 363
11.2 CuneiformandGreekwatchschemata 368
11.3 AgriculturalApodoses 376
11.4 MilitaryApodoses 378
11.5 OtherApodoses 379
13.1 TripleConcordancemotion-degreemodelforMercury(c.a.d.5) 429
13.2 Four-seasonschemesforMercuryintian-wenomenliterature 432
13.3 Mercuryfour-seasonomenseries 435
13.4 Mercurymodel&seriespermutations 436
14.1 Thepositionsofthesunatwintersolsticesaccordingtoobservationoflunar
eclipses 468
14.2 Wintersolsticesaccordingtomeasurementoftheshadowcastbya
gnomon 471
15.1 NamesoftheTwelveSignsoftheZodiac 481
15.2 SequencesoftheTwelveSignsoftheZodiac 482
x list of figures and tables
15.3 CorrespondencebetweentheTwelveSignsandTwenty-eightLunar
Mansions 488
15.4 CorrespondencebetweentheTwelveSignsandtheSevenLuminaries 492
15.5 CorrespondencebetweentheTwelveSigns,theSevenLuminariesandFive
PhasesinQiyaorangzaijue 492
15.6 The“SevenLuminaries”PropertyoftheLunarMansionsinHoroscope
Astrology 496
15.7 CorrespondencebetweentheTwenty-eightLunarMansionsandFive
Planets-FivePhasesinChineseAstrology 502
15.8 CorrespondencebetweentheTwelveSigns,TwelveCiandtheTwelve
EarthlyBranches 516
15.9 Different“FivePhases”propertiesoftheTwelveEarthlyBranches 518
15.10 CorrespondencebetweentheTwelveSignsandtheTwelveDistrictsof
China 520
16.1 Constellation-Planet-Animaldatingsystem 534
16.2 AcomparisonoftheTrineLordsbetweenACompleteCollectionof
GenethlialogyandPtolemy’sTetrabiblosi.18 535
16.3 PositionsandFieldAllocationsoftheelevenluminariesinp.4071 537
16.4 Theplanetarypositionsinp.4071comparedwiththeresultsofcalculationby
qyrzj(t.1308)andthemodernephemerisde404 538
16.5 Maincompositionsinanatalchartfromqyrzjofthe9thcentury 543
16.6 Compositionsinanactualnatalcharton14January1113fromZokuGunsho
Ruiju 544
16.7 Thefrequencyofacertainconfigurationsofplanetandhousementionedin
p.4071 553