Astronomy of Qumran: Further Considerations

In the 21st issue of Dead Sea Discoveries, Dennis Duke and Matthew Goff offered their collaboration as physicist and Dead Sea Scrolls scholar in order to study the lunar theory of the Aramaic Astronomical Book (AAB). They use the astronomical model of lunar elongation-the angular distance between the moon and the sun on the observed heavenly sphere-to compute the times of the moon's visibility and invisibility. They conclude that the times written on the Aramaic fragments are closer to reality than the times written in the Babylonian sources of the AAB. This paper concludes that lunar elongation is not the best explanation of the astronomical data of the AAB, and Duke and Goff's computations should be refined according to some astronomical, cosmological, textual, and historical considerations. Keywords 1 Enoch -lunar theory -Astronomical Book of Enoch Ratzon Dead Sea Discoveries 22 (2015) 202-209

Oxford University Press eBooks, 2011

Argument The Astronomical Book of Enoch describes the passage of the moon through the gates of heaven, which stand at the edges of the earth. In doing so, the book describes the position of the rising and setting of the moon on the horizon. Otto Neugebauer, the historian of ancient science, suggested using the detailed tables found in later Ethiopic texts in order to reconstruct the path of the moon through the gates. This paper offers a new examination of earlier versions of the Astronomical Book, using a mathematical analysis of the figures and astronomical theories presented throughout the Aramaic Astronomical Book; the results fit both the data preserved in the scrolls and the mathematical approach and religious ideology of the scroll's authors better than the details found in the late Ethiopic texts. Among other new insights, this alternate theory also teaches about the process of the composition of the Astronomical Book in the first centuries of its composition.

Science in Context, 2017

ArgumentThe Astronomical Book of Enoch describes the passage of the moon through the gates of heaven, which stand at the edges of the earth. In doing so, the book describes the position of the rising and setting of the moon on the horizon. Otto Neugebauer, the historian of ancient science, suggested using the detailed tables found in later Ethiopic texts in order to reconstruct the path of the moon through the gates. This paper offers a new examination of earlier versions of the Astronomical Book, using a mathematical analysis of the figures and astronomical theories presented throughout the Aramaic Astronomical Book; the results fit both the data preserved in the scrolls and the mathematical approach and religious ideology of the scroll's authors better than the details found in the late Ethiopic texts. Among other new insights, this alternate theory also teaches about the process of the composition of the Astronomical Book in the first centuries of its composition.

Dead Sea Discoveries, 2014

This article puts forth a mathematical and astronomical model that helps explain the structure of the Aramaic Astronomical Book (aab; 4Q208–211), in particular the sequences of fractions in 4Q208 and 4Q209. The article confirms and builds upon Drawnel’s reconstruction of this highly formulaic composition. The model proposed here demonstrates that the numerous fractions of the aab, although they seem bewildering and incomprehensible to many readers today, constitute genuine and authentic astronomical knowledge. While there are parallels between the aab and Mesopotamian astronomical texts, especially the Enūma Anu Enlil, they do not necessarily indicate that the author of the aab had direct or extensive access to centers of astronomical knowledge in Babylon.

Journal of Semitic Studies, 2014

The author has produced the first complete critical edition of the entire four Qumran manuscripts that comprise 4QAstronomical Enoch a-d (4Q208-4Q211) in one volume.

Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und …, 2005

Journal for the History of Astronomy xlv Vol. i, 2014

Studies on the Ancient Exact Sciences in Honor of Lis Brack-Bernsen, 2017

In this investigation, I sketch the way in which Babylonian astronomers may have derived the basic parameters of their lunar theory. I propose that the lunar velocity period of 6247 synodic months which underlies the construction of functions Φ and F of system A is derived by fitting a multiple of the Saros period of 223 synodic months within an integer number of solar years using the -year Sirius period relation. I further suggest that the lunar velocity period of 251 synodic months used to construct function F of system B is a direct derivative of the -month period. I also briefly discuss the origin of the periods of the solar velocity function B (of system A) and of the solar longitude function A (of system B) suggesting that the periods of these functions may have been derived from a refined version of the -year Sirius period. I finally discuss the timeframe of the possible stepwise development of these early lunar and solar functions.

Archive for History of Science, 2020

BM 76829, a fragment from the mid-section of a small tablet from Sippar in Late Babylonian script, preserves what remains of two new unparalleled pieces from the cuneiform astronomical repertoire relating to the zodiac. The text on the obverse assigns numerical values to sectors assigned to zodiacal signs, while the text on the reverse seems to relate zodiacal signs with specific days or intervals of days. The system used on the obverse also presents a new way of representing the concept of numerical ‘zero’ in cuneiform, and for the first time in cuneiform, a system for dividing the horizon into six arcs in the east and six arcs in the west akin to that used in the Astronomical Book of Enoch. Both the obverse and the reverse may describe the periodical courses of the sun and moon, in a similar way to what is found in astronomical texts from Qumran, thus adding to our knowledge of the scientific relationship between the two cultures.