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Books > Science & Mathematics > Astronomy, space & time > Solar system
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The Babylonian Theory of the Planets (Hardcover)
Loot Price: R3,990
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The Babylonian Theory of the Planets (Hardcover)
Series: Princeton Legacy Library
Expected to ship within 10 - 15 working days
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In the second millennium b.c., Babylonian scribes assembled a vast
collection of astrological omens, believed to be signs from the
gods concerning the kingdom's political, military, and agricultural
fortunes. The importance of these omens was such that from the
eighth or seventh until the first century, the scribes observed the
heavens nightly and recorded the dates and locations of ominous
phenomena of the moon and planets in relation to stars and
constellations. The observations were arranged in monthly reports
along with notable events and prices of agricultural commodities,
the object being to find correlations between phenomena in the
heavens and conditions on earth. These collections of omens and
observations form the first empirical science of antiquity and were
the basis of the first mathematical science, astronomy. For it was
discovered that planetary phenomena, although irregular and
sometimes concealed by bad weather, recur in limited periods within
cycles in which they are repeated on nearly the same dates and in
nearly the same locations. N. M. Swerdlow's book is a study of the
collection and observation of ominous celestial phenomena and of
how intervals of time, locations by zodiacal sign, and cycles in
which the phenomena recur were used to reduce them to purely
arithmetical computation, thereby surmounting the greatest obstacle
to observation, bad weather. The work marks a striking advance in
our understanding of both the origin of scientific astronomy and
the astrological divination through which the kingdoms of ancient
Mesopotamia were governed. Originally published in 1998. The
Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology
to again make available previously out-of-print books from the
distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These
editions preserve the original texts of these important books while
presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The
goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access
to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books
published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
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