This paper finds a parallel to the division of each Babylonian zodiacal sign into 30 degrees in the Enochic cosmology. In particular a new explanation of the rare Aramaic word חרתיה in 4Q209 (4Q209 7iii 1–2, 6) from the Aramaic Astronomical Book is offered as describing heavenly openings on the horizon for the daily rising and setting of the sun. These openings were smaller parts of each one of the twelve gates compared previously by scholars to the zodiacal signs. It seems plausible that the description of the daily openings appeared four times in the account of every year at the end of each season. The addition of these four days can be seen as part of the author’s polemic against the Mesopotamian 360-day year. An implication of the repetition of the sentence in 4Q209 8 3–4 is that this scroll was probably longer than previously assumed and included a triennial cycle synchronizing lunar and solar years.
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Otto Neugebauer, Astronomical Cuneiform Texts: Babylonian Ephemerides of the Seleucid Period for the Motion of the Sun, the Moon, and the Planets (New York: Springer-Verlag, 1983); idem. Ethiopic Astronomy and Computus (Wien: Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Philosophisch- Historische Klasse, 1979); idem. “The ‘Astronomical’ Chapters of the Ethiopic Book of Enoch (72 to 82)” in The Book of Enoch or 1 Enoch (ed. M. Black; Studia in Veteris Testamenti Pseudepigrapha, 7; Leiden: Brill, 1985), 326–86.
Joseph T. Milik, The Books of Enoch: Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976), 273 dated 4Q208 to the end of the third century or the beginning of the second century b.c.e. based on its paleographical and orthographic characteristics. The 14C dating of the scroll gave a little later date, see A.J.T. Jull et al., “Radiocarbon Dating of Scrolls and Linen Fragments from the Judean Desert,” Radiocarbon 37,1 (1995): 11–19. However, several considerations, including the possibility that the sample was contaminated by modern castor oil, suggest an earlier date, see G. Doudna, “Dating the Scrolls on the Basis of Radiocarbon Analysis” in The Dead Sea Scrolls after Fifty Years: A Comprehensive Assessment, (eds. P.W. Flint and J.C. VanderKam with A. Alvarez; Leiden: Brill, 1998), 1:430–65. For further discussion see Israel Carmi, “Are the 14C Dates of the Dead Sea Scrolls Affected by Castor Oil Contamination?,” Radiocarbon 44(1) (2002): 213–16; K.L. Rasmussen et al., “Reply to Israel Carmi (2002): ‘Are the 14C Dates of the Dead Sea Scrolls Affected by Castor Oil Contamination?’ ” Radiocarbon 45, 3 (2003), 497–99. Thus, Eibert J.C. Tigchelaar & F. García Martínez, djd 36:106 think that, in fact, the radiocarbon dating supports Milik’s estimation. Hence, the first layer of the Astronomical Book was not composed after the end of the third century b.c.e. The terminus a quo would be the fourth or fifth century b.c.e., as the book seems to be familiar with some Mesopotamian astronomical concepts that were not fully developed until then. See below for discussion of implementation of those late concepts into aab.
August Dillmann, Das Buch Henoch übersetzt und erklärt (Leipzig: Vogel, 1853), 220; Robert H. Charles, The Book of Enoch, or 1 Enoch (Oxford: Clarendon, 1912), 150.
Lis Brack-Bernsen and Herman Hunger, “The Babylonian Zodiac: Speculations on its Invention and Significance,” Centaurus 41 (1999): 280–292, n. 4; Ben-Dov, Head of All Years, 185–189; Eshbal Ratzon, “The Gates for the Sun and Moon in the Astronomical Book of Enoch,” Tarbiz 82,4 (2014), 497–512.
Otto Neugebauer, “Notes on Ethiopic Astronomy,” Orientalia, 33 (1964): 49–71.
Wayne Horowitz, Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1998), 252–56 claims that these paths are spread over the entire sky, whereas Erica Reiner, in collaboration with David Pingree, Bibliotheca Mesopotamia Volume Two, Fascicle Two: Babylonian Planetary Omens Part Two: Enuma Anu Enlil Tablets 50–51 (Malibu: Undena Publications, 1981), 17–18 and J. Koch, Neue Untersuchungen zur Topographie des babylonischen Fixsternhimmels, (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1989), 14–22 think that it is the horizon alone which was divided into three arcs. Either way they all agree that the eastern and western sides of the horizon were separated into three parts: central, northern, and southern.
Brack-Bernsen and Hunger, “Babylonian Zodiac,” 283–85 hypothesized that a horizontal system similar to the Enochic gates, from which the authors of the Astronomical Book derived their gate system, existed also in Mesopotamia. Based on their hypothesis, Basil Lourie, “Between Babylonia and Ethiopia: Some Thoughts about a Recent Book on the Qumranic Calendars (Jonathan Ben-Dov, “Head of All Years,” Astronomy and Calendars at Qumran and Their Ancient Context)” Scrinium. Revue de Patrologie, d’Hagiographiecritique et d’Histoire Ecclésiastique 6 (2010): 413–32 believes that no original astronomy existed in Judea. But see Ratzon, “Gates,” which claims that the gates cosmology is known to us only from Enochic writings, in which it is featured prominently.
Schmidt, Francis, “Le calendrier liturgique des prières quotidiennes (4Q503). En annexe: l’apport du verso (4Q512) à l’edition de 4Q503,” in Le temps et les temps dans les littératures juives et chrétiennes au tournant de notre ère (JSJSup 112; eds. C. Grappe and J.C. Ingelaere, Leiden: Brill, 2006), 55–83.
Milik, Books of Enoch, 274–84. Milik was followed by Albani, Astronomie, 70–75.
Ben-Dov, Head of all Years, 71–72, 122–25; idem, “The Initial Stages of Lunar Theory at Qumran,” jjs 54,1 (2003): 125–38; Drawnel, Aramaic Astronomical Book, 299 and in note 137.
Tov, Scribal Practices, 77–93. Tov notes that most of the large scrolls were copies of scripture. He explains that the inclusion of several Enochic writings and other non-canonical works in this list probably indicates their prestige as authoritative texts.
Milik, Books of Enoch, 284; Beyer, Die aramäischen Texte, 586; Jonas C. Greenfield & Michael Sokoloff, “The Contribution of Qumran Aramaic to the Aramaic Vocabulary,” in Studies in Qumran Aramaic (ed. T. Muraoka; Abr-Nahrain, Supplement 3; Louvain: Peeters, 1992), 78–98.
Robert Payne Smith, A Compendious Syriac Dictionary: Founded upon the Thesaurus Syriacus of R. Payne Smith (ed. J. Payne Smith; Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1998), 160.
August Dillmann, Lexicon Linguae Aethiopicae (New York: Frederick Ungar, 1955), 294–95.
Isaac, Ephraim, “1 (Ethiopic Apocalypse of) Enoch,” in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (ed. J. Charlesworth; London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1983), 1:52; Neugebauer, “Astronomical Chapters,” 393, 395.
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This paper finds a parallel to the division of each Babylonian zodiacal sign into 30 degrees in the Enochic cosmology. In particular a new explanation of the rare Aramaic word חרתיה in 4Q209 (4Q209 7iii 1–2, 6) from the Aramaic Astronomical Book is offered as describing heavenly openings on the horizon for the daily rising and setting of the sun. These openings were smaller parts of each one of the twelve gates compared previously by scholars to the zodiacal signs. It seems plausible that the description of the daily openings appeared four times in the account of every year at the end of each season. The addition of these four days can be seen as part of the author’s polemic against the Mesopotamian 360-day year. An implication of the repetition of the sentence in 4Q209 8 3–4 is that this scroll was probably longer than previously assumed and included a triennial cycle synchronizing lunar and solar years.
All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 1793 | 248 | 15 |
Full Text Views | 277 | 3 | 1 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 114 | 11 | 3 |