40
of the lunar and solar opposition and conjunction. The entries for the 15th of Months
III, VI, IX and XII once more refer to the solstices and equinoxes as defined by the
length of day and night. For example, the entry for the winter solstice on the 15th of
Month IX reads as follows:
[DIŠ ina
iti GAN]
⌈
UD
⌉ .15.KAM 2 ma EN.NUN UD 4 ma EN.NUN GE 6
[DIŠ ina
iti GAN UD].16.KAM GE 6 ana ur-ru i-na-pal UD
me GÍD
me GE 6
me LUGUD
me
[¶ On Month IX] day 15: 2 mina is the watch of the day, 4 mina is the watch of the night.
[¶ On Month IX day] 16: night converts to day; the days become longer, the nights become
shorter.
This passage is similar to the entry for the winter solstice on the Old Babylonian
tablet BM 17175 + 17284. Here, however, it is made clear that the change in the
length of day and night occurs each day. Thus, the day after the solstice, part of the
night is converted into day and from then on the day will become longer each day
and the night will become shorter.
Another text relevant to our discussion dating to the late second or early first millennium BC, which was again widely known and copied by the early seventh century BC, is MUL.APIN (Hunger & Steele, 2019). MUL.APIN is a compendium of
astronomical and astrological material including several lists of stars, schemes for
intercalation, the intervals between synodic phenomena of the planets, the length of
night and the duration of visibility of the moon, and the length of the shadow cast
by a gnomon, and celestial omens. Like all of the other texts discussed so far, at the
core of all of the schemes in MUL.APIN lies the 360-day schematic calendar.
The scheme for the length of night, and by extension for the length of day, in
MUL.APIN is identical to that found in tablet 14 of Enūma Anu Enlil with one crucial exception: the dates of the solstices and equinoxes are shifted by one month in
the schematic calendar to the 15th day of Months I, IV, VII, and X. References to
the length of day and night at the solstices and equinoxes appear at several places in
MUL.APIN: in the list of the dates of the first appearances of stars at lines I ii 43, I
iii 2 and I iii 9 (summer solstice, autumnal equinox and winter solstice only); in the
shadow length scheme at lines II ii 21, II ii 25, II ii 31, and II ii 35; and in the scheme
for the length of night at II ii 43, II ii 50, II iii 8, and II iii 8. Like everything we have
encountered do far, these entries do not make an explicit reference to the solstice
and equinox, but implicitly refer to them be singling out the dates of the longest and
shortest day and equal length day and night for special treatment. For example, the
shadow length scheme is presented for these four dates during the year and then a
short procedure explains how it can be extended to the other months of the year.
Another part of MUL.APIN, lines II I 9—II I 21, provides additional information
about the solstices and equinoxes beyond simply giving the dates when the day is
longest, shortest, and of equal length of the night (Hunger & Steele, 2019: 142–145):
DIŠ ina
iti
ŠU UD.15.KAM
mul KAK.SI.SÁ IGI.LÁ-ma 4 MA.NA EN.NUN u 4 -mi 2 MA.NA
EN.NUN GE 6
d
UTU šá ina id
im
SI.SÁ KI SAG-DU
mul UR.GU.LA KUR-ḫa GUR-ma ana
id
im U 18 .LU u 4 -mu 40 NINDA.TA.ÀM ul-ta-map-pal UD
meš LUGÚD.DA
meš GE 6
meš GÍD.
DA
meš
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------J. Steele
of the lunar and solar opposition and conjunction. The entries for the 15th of Months
III, VI, IX and XII once more refer to the solstices and equinoxes as defined by the
length of day and night. For example, the entry for the winter solstice on the 15th of
Month IX reads as follows:
[DIŠ ina
iti GAN]
⌈
UD
⌉ .15.KAM 2 ma EN.NUN UD 4 ma EN.NUN GE 6
[DIŠ ina
iti GAN UD].16.KAM GE 6 ana ur-ru i-na-pal UD
me GÍD
me GE 6
me LUGUD
me
[¶ On Month IX] day 15: 2 mina is the watch of the day, 4 mina is the watch of the night.
[¶ On Month IX day] 16: night converts to day; the days become longer, the nights become
shorter.
This passage is similar to the entry for the winter solstice on the Old Babylonian
tablet BM 17175 + 17284. Here, however, it is made clear that the change in the
length of day and night occurs each day. Thus, the day after the solstice, part of the
night is converted into day and from then on the day will become longer each day
and the night will become shorter.
Another text relevant to our discussion dating to the late second or early first millennium BC, which was again widely known and copied by the early seventh century BC, is MUL.APIN (Hunger & Steele, 2019). MUL.APIN is a compendium of
astronomical and astrological material including several lists of stars, schemes for
intercalation, the intervals between synodic phenomena of the planets, the length of
night and the duration of visibility of the moon, and the length of the shadow cast
by a gnomon, and celestial omens. Like all of the other texts discussed so far, at the
core of all of the schemes in MUL.APIN lies the 360-day schematic calendar.
The scheme for the length of night, and by extension for the length of day, in
MUL.APIN is identical to that found in tablet 14 of Enūma Anu Enlil with one crucial exception: the dates of the solstices and equinoxes are shifted by one month in
the schematic calendar to the 15th day of Months I, IV, VII, and X. References to
the length of day and night at the solstices and equinoxes appear at several places in
MUL.APIN: in the list of the dates of the first appearances of stars at lines I ii 43, I
iii 2 and I iii 9 (summer solstice, autumnal equinox and winter solstice only); in the
shadow length scheme at lines II ii 21, II ii 25, II ii 31, and II ii 35; and in the scheme
for the length of night at II ii 43, II ii 50, II iii 8, and II iii 8. Like everything we have
encountered do far, these entries do not make an explicit reference to the solstice
and equinox, but implicitly refer to them be singling out the dates of the longest and
shortest day and equal length day and night for special treatment. For example, the
shadow length scheme is presented for these four dates during the year and then a
short procedure explains how it can be extended to the other months of the year.
Another part of MUL.APIN, lines II I 9—II I 21, provides additional information
about the solstices and equinoxes beyond simply giving the dates when the day is
longest, shortest, and of equal length of the night (Hunger & Steele, 2019: 142–145):
DIŠ ina
iti
ŠU UD.15.KAM
mul KAK.SI.SÁ IGI.LÁ-ma 4 MA.NA EN.NUN u 4 -mi 2 MA.NA
EN.NUN GE 6
d
UTU šá ina id
im
SI.SÁ KI SAG-DU
mul UR.GU.LA KUR-ḫa GUR-ma ana
id
im U 18 .LU u 4 -mu 40 NINDA.TA.ÀM ul-ta-map-pal UD
meš LUGÚD.DA
meš GE 6
meš GÍD.
DA
meš
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------J. Steele