42
Thus, the phrases “rises in the east” and “in the west” here simply indicate which
horizon we are looking at.
The entries for the solstices also give the position of the rising sun stating that it
is in the “north”, for summer solstice, or the “south”, for winter solstice. Here
“north” and “south” are given in terms of wind directions, which are commonly
used to roughly indicate cardinal directions (Horowitz, 1998: 195–200). In the
entries for both solstices, the sun is said to rise with the Head of the Lion (Leo), but
this is almost certainly a textual error: the sun will rise with the Head of the Lion at
the summer solstice according to the presumed date of the solstice and the first
appearance of the Head of the Lion given elsewhere in MUL.APIN, but because the
rising position of stars does not change over the year, at the winter solstice the sun
will be a long way from the Lion. What is important, however, is that the text states
that the sun rises in the north at the summer solstice and then “turns and keeps moving down towards the south”, and similarly at the winter solstice, the sun rises in the
south and then “turns and keeps coming up towards the north”. Thus, the dates of
the solstices are associated with the most northerly and southerly rising points of the
sun. The text continues by stating that something changes by “40 NINDA per day”.
A NINDA is a unit of distance but is also used as a unit of time. Given that the statement of a change of 40 NINDA per day directly follows the statement that the sun’s
rising position moves to the south/north, it would be tempting to see this change as
referring to the change in azimuth of the sun’s rising point. However, a close study
of this passage reveals that this is not the case: the 40 NINDA per day, which is
equal to 0;40 UŠ and equivalent to 0;0,40 mina is the daily change in the length of
daylight. The passages end with the familiar statements that following the solstices,
the days become shorter/longer and the nights become longer/shorter.
This section of MUL.APIN, therefore, shows that an additional, but clearly secondary, characteristic of the solstices is that the sun’s rising position is to its northern and southern extremes at the summer and winter solstices respectively. By
contrast, the equinoxes seem to be defined only by the equal length of day and night.
5 The Neo-Assyrian Period
All of the texts that I have discussed so far present the four dates in the schematic
360-day calendar on which the length of day is either longest, shortest, or equal to
the length of night, corresponding to the summer solstice, the winter solstice, and
the two equinoxes respectively. These dates are themselves schematic not reports of
observations—they are placed at equal divisions of the schematic year and on the
fifteenth day of a month when the moon and sun are in opposition, a situation which
in reality can never happen within the same year. We have also seen that one section
of MUL.APIN added a secondary characteristic to the dates of the solstices, namely
the extreme northern and southern rising points of the sun. However, these early
texts present no evidence of the observation of the solstices and equinoxes nor do
they give names for these phenomena. This situation changes in the seventh century
J. Steele
Thus, the phrases “rises in the east” and “in the west” here simply indicate which
horizon we are looking at.
The entries for the solstices also give the position of the rising sun stating that it
is in the “north”, for summer solstice, or the “south”, for winter solstice. Here
“north” and “south” are given in terms of wind directions, which are commonly
used to roughly indicate cardinal directions (Horowitz, 1998: 195–200). In the
entries for both solstices, the sun is said to rise with the Head of the Lion (Leo), but
this is almost certainly a textual error: the sun will rise with the Head of the Lion at
the summer solstice according to the presumed date of the solstice and the first
appearance of the Head of the Lion given elsewhere in MUL.APIN, but because the
rising position of stars does not change over the year, at the winter solstice the sun
will be a long way from the Lion. What is important, however, is that the text states
that the sun rises in the north at the summer solstice and then “turns and keeps moving down towards the south”, and similarly at the winter solstice, the sun rises in the
south and then “turns and keeps coming up towards the north”. Thus, the dates of
the solstices are associated with the most northerly and southerly rising points of the
sun. The text continues by stating that something changes by “40 NINDA per day”.
A NINDA is a unit of distance but is also used as a unit of time. Given that the statement of a change of 40 NINDA per day directly follows the statement that the sun’s
rising position moves to the south/north, it would be tempting to see this change as
referring to the change in azimuth of the sun’s rising point. However, a close study
of this passage reveals that this is not the case: the 40 NINDA per day, which is
equal to 0;40 UŠ and equivalent to 0;0,40 mina is the daily change in the length of
daylight. The passages end with the familiar statements that following the solstices,
the days become shorter/longer and the nights become longer/shorter.
This section of MUL.APIN, therefore, shows that an additional, but clearly secondary, characteristic of the solstices is that the sun’s rising position is to its northern and southern extremes at the summer and winter solstices respectively. By
contrast, the equinoxes seem to be defined only by the equal length of day and night.
5 The Neo-Assyrian Period
All of the texts that I have discussed so far present the four dates in the schematic
360-day calendar on which the length of day is either longest, shortest, or equal to
the length of night, corresponding to the summer solstice, the winter solstice, and
the two equinoxes respectively. These dates are themselves schematic not reports of
observations—they are placed at equal divisions of the schematic year and on the
fifteenth day of a month when the moon and sun are in opposition, a situation which
in reality can never happen within the same year. We have also seen that one section
of MUL.APIN added a secondary characteristic to the dates of the solstices, namely
the extreme northern and southern rising points of the sun. However, these early
texts present no evidence of the observation of the solstices and equinoxes nor do
they give names for these phenomena. This situation changes in the seventh century
J. Steele