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Die astrologische Medizin der spätbabylonischen Zeit
Get PDFDie Dissertation befasst sich mit einer Form der Heilkunde, die Astrologie und Medizin kombinierte, und im antiken Babylonien (heute südlicher Irak) in der spätbabylonischen Zeit existierte (6–1. Jh. v. Chr.). Enthalten sind Editionen und Untersuchungen zu Keilschrifttafeln mit astro-medizinischen Texten, größtenteils aus Archiven und Tempelbibliotheken der beiden Orte Babylon und Uruk, den wichtigsten Zentren des wissenschaftlichen Lebens in dieser Zeit. Besondere Aufmerksamkeit wird hierbei dem Tierkreis sowie dem Mikrozodiak gewidmet, und dem Prozess der Integration astrologischen Wissens in die Heilkunst.
Eines der betrachteten astromedizinischen Systeme ist das Stein-Pflanze-Holz-Schema. In diesem System wurden Materialien aus den drei Gruppen im Namen des Schemas den Tierkreiszeichen zugeordnet. Es gab neben der mit dem Tierkreis verbundenen Standardversion, die einen kalendarischen Vorläufer hatte, auch eine erweiterte Version in Verbindung mit den 144 Mikro-Tierkreiszeichen. Das einfache Zodiakschema wurde auch in den iatromathematischen Kalender integriert, ein astromedizinisches System, das u. a. aus einer Gruppe von Kalendertexten bestand, die für jeden Tag des schematischen 360-Tage-Kalenders pharmakologisch-therapeutische Anweisungen enthielten, und der Melothesie, einem Konzept, das jedem der Tierkreiszeichen einen Einfluss auf eine bestimmte Region des menschlichen Körpers zuschrieb. Die babylonische Astromedizin bildete die Grundlage für die spätere hellenistische Astromedizin, die viele der Konzepte und Methoden übernahm.The thesis deals with a form of medicine combining astrology and medicine that existed in ancient Babylonia (now southern Iraq) in the late Babylonian period (6th-1st centuries BC). Editions and studies of astro-medical cuneiform tablets are included, mostly originating from archives and temple libraries in the two cities of Babylon and Uruk, the main centers of scholarly life in that era. Particular consideration is given to the zodiac and the micro-zodiac and to the process by which astrological knowledge began to be integrated into the healing arts.
One astro-medical therapeutic system is the so-called ‘stone-plant-wood’-schema. In this system materials from the three groups of nature in the name of the schema are associated with the zodiacal signs. Two different versions of it existed: a standard one in connection with zodiac (which had a calendrical forerunner) and an advanced version in connection with the 144 micro-zodiac signs. The standard zodiac schema was also integrated in a comprehensive iatromathematical calendar, an astro-medical system which consisted inter alia of a group of calendar texts (menologies that give prescriptions for each day of the schematic 360-day calendar), remedies made of animal substances that were associated with the signs of the (micro)-zodiac, and melothesia i.e. a concept ascribing to each of the zodiac signs an influence on a specific region of the human body. Late Babylonian astrological medicine formed the basis for later Hellenistic astro-medicine which adopted many of the Babylonian concepts and methods
Practitioners – School ‘Mathematicians’:The Divisions of Pre-Modern Mathematics and Its Actors
Get PDFThe paper starts by looking at how ‘practical’ and ‘theoretical’ mathematics and their relationhave been understood from the Greeks to Christian Wolff and by historians of mathematicsfrom Montucla to recent days. Drawing on earlier work of mine, and on the giantson whose shoulders I (try to) stand, I then suggest a categorization of the mathematical knowledge types a historian has to deal with: the ‘sub-scientific’ type, carried by practitioners taught in an apprenticeship network; the ‘scholasticized’ type, taught supposedly for practice but in a ‘scribal’ school by masters whose own genuine practice is that of teaching; and the ‘scientific’ or theory-oriented type. In the end, the utility of this categorization is tried out on two specific cases
Weather Prediction in Babylonia
Get PDFThis paper addresses developments in the prediction of weather phenomena in Late Babylonian scholarly texts. Previously published and unpublished texts are analyzed and the underlying methods are compared with omen-based weather prognostication, developments in Babylonian astronomical prediction and reporting practices in the astronomical diaries. It is found that some texts combine long-term astronomical prediction with inferential methods for predicting weather phenomena. It is argued that these new methods for predicting weather phenomena are part of a larger Babylonian effort to predict and explain non-astronomical phenomena by relating them to predictable astronomical phenomena
Babylonian Astronomy: Editing and Interpreting an Ancient Science
Get PDFThe year 1881 marks the birth of Babylonian astronomy as a modern area of scholarship with the first publication about this topic. From the outset, its scholarly practices were based on a variety of methods rooted in Assyriology, astronomy, mathematics and the history of science. In this chapter, the editing practices that were applied to Babylonian astronomical texts and their relationship to research methods in the abovementioned disciplines are traced through the works of
the main scholars who were active in the field of Babylonian astronomy between
1881 and 1955. In this period, two phases can be distinguished: a pioneering phase
(1881–1935) in which mainly individual tablets were edited while editing practices
remained fluid, and a subsequent phase characterized by the appearance of standard
editions of complete and coherent corpora of texts. In both phases, the translations
and interpretations were strongly shaped by modern mathematics and astronomy
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Uma Visão Baseada em Simulações das Práticas Mesopotâmicas de Cálculo
No full textIt is argued that iterative computations which are attested in Mesopotamian and other ancient sources can be productively analyzed and interpreted in a simulation-based framework. Ancient Mesopotamia present us with a rich body of textual evidence for computational practices over a period of more than three millennia. This paper is concerned with Mesopotamian iterative computations of empirical phenomena, where each iteration updates the values of certain quantities from one state to the next state. It will be argued that these computations can be fruitfully interpreted in the so-called simulation-based framework, which was recently developed by philosophers of science in order to better account for the role of simulations in modern science. This is exemplified on the basis of a text from the Ur III period (2100–2000 BCE) about the growth of a cow herd. Other Mesopotamian sources with iteratively computed sequences, in particular various types of mathematical tables, are ignored here, because they do not directly correspond to any phenomena. Section 1 briefly addresses some developments in the philosophy and historiography of science in order to introduce the simulation-based framework. Section 2 discusses the textual example. Section 3 contains the conclusions.Se discute que los cálculos iterativos que se atestiguan en las fuentes mesopotámicas y otras fuentes antiguas pueden analizarse e interpretarse de forma productiva en un marco basado en la simulación. La antigua Mesopotamia nos presenta un rico cuerpo de evidencia textual de prácticas computacionales durante un período de más de tres milenios. Este artículo se ocupa de los cálculos iterativos mesopotámicos de fenómenos empíricos, en los que cada iteración actualiza los valores de ciertas cantidades de un estado al siguiente. Se argumentará que estos cálculos pueden ser interpretados de manera fructífera en el llamado marco basado en la simulación, que fue desarrollado recientemente por los filósofos de la ciencia con el fin de explicar mejor el papel de las simulaciones en la ciencia moderna. Esto se ejemplifica a partir de un texto del periodo Ur III (2100-2000 a.C.) sobre el crecimiento de un rebaño de vacas. Otras fuentes mesopotámicas con secuencias calculadas de forma iterativa, en particular varios tipos de tablas matemáticas, se ignoran aquí, porque no se corresponden directamente con ningún fenómeno. La primera sección aborda brevemente algunos desarrollos en la filosofía y la historiografía de la ciencia para introducir el marco basado en la simulación. La segunda sección analiza el ejemplo textual. La última sección contiene las conclusiones.Argumenta-se que cálculos iterativos que são atestados na Mesopotâmia e em outras fontes antigas podem ser analisados e interpretados produtivamente em um quadro referencial baseado em simulações. A Antiga Mesopotâmia nos apresenta um rico corpo de evidência textual para as práticas de cálculo ao longo de um período de mais de três milênios. Este artigo se preocupa com os cálculos iterativos mesopotâmicos de um fenômeno empírico, em que cada iteração atualiza os valores de certas quantidades de um estado para o estado seguinte. Será argumentado que esses cálculos podem ser interpretados proveitosamente no assim chamado quadro referencial baseado em simulações, que foi recentemente explorado por filósofos da ciência, a fim de melhor explicar o papel de simulações na ciência moderna. Isso é exemplificado com base em um texto do período de Ur III (2100-2000 A.E.C.) sobre o crescimento de um rebanho bovino. Outras fontes mesopotâmicas com sequências computadas iterativamente, em particular vários tipos de tabelas matemáticas, são ignoradas aqui, porque elas não correspondem diretamente a nenhum fenômeno. O artigo é organizado como segue. A Seção 1 trata brevemente de alguns desenvolvimentos na filosofia e historiografia da ciência a fim de introduzir o quadro referencial baseado em simulação. A Seção 2 discute o exemplo textual. A Seção 3 contém as conclusões. 
Performative Aspects of Assyrian Celestial Divination and Babylonian Astronomical Diaries
Get PDFThis contribution explores performative aspects of Assyrian celestial divination and Babylonian astronomical diaries and related texts during the first millennium BCE. While the sources for Assyrian celestial divination contain much evidence about observational and ritual performances, astronomical diaries and related texts are mainly concerned with observation and prediction. It is argued that the Assyrian evidence can shed light on some poorly docu-mented performative aspects of astronomical practices in Babylon
Libraries, Communities and Transfer of Knowledge
No full textUruk is the only other site apart from Babylon where all major categories of Babylonian
astral science1 are represented in cuneiform tablets. Although the number of
tablets from Uruk with astral science is small compared to Babylon, they are especially
relevant for reconstructing the context, development and transmission of astral
science during the 1st millennium BCE. This is because most tablets from Uruk were
excavated scientifically, unlike those from Babylon. Hence we know, albeit to varying
degrees of precision, at which locations and in which stratigraphical layers they
were found2 – information that is essential for the present investigation.3 In Uruk, the full range of Babylonian astral science is best represented in the Late Seleucid library
of the Rēš, temple of the skygod Anu. Since this library and the scholars associated
with it have been the subject of detailed investigations,4 the focus is shifted here to libraries
from the preceding Neo Babylonian, Achaemenid and Early Seleucid periods.
Three libraries in Uruk that predate the Rēš have yielded tablets with astral science:
the library of the Eanna temple, that of Anu-ikṣur and his family and that of Iqīšâ
and his family, two private libraries located in the same house (fig. 1). While all three
have been surveyed elsewhere in the literature, the present contribution attempts to
trace the development and the transfer of Babylonian astral science in and between
these libraries in more detail
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