Discovered in the library of King Ashurbanipal (ruler of Assyria between 669-626 BC) the “Mul.Apin” series of clay tablets dated
687 BC helped the scholars to further improve our knowledge of the
Babylonian Astronomy. Mul.Apin can be defined an astronomical compendium
including a list of 66 stars and constellations and indications about
astronomical phenomena such
as rising, setting and culmination dates. The main vision of the sky
adopted in the Mul.Apin follows the tradition of the Circular Star
Calendars using the tripartite division of the Paths of Ea, Anu and
Enlil since Mul-Apin is known to be a reproduction of an earlier text presumably written around 1000 BC which contains the full description of the Mesopotamian constellation dating to the late 2nd millennium BC.
The
text runs to two tablets divided in sections: section number 2 of
tablet number 1 contains a sequential list of the heliacal rising dates
of 36 stars in a calendar comprised of 12 months of 30 days each. In
the Mul.Apin tablets the Zodiac is not yet divided into twelve equal
parts: the path of the Moon is described as crossing Seventeen /Eighteen
constellation along the Ecliptic.
If
you are interested in learning more about the ancient science of the
sky, its origin, meaning and its practical use in measuring time cycles
with its application to stocks and commodity trading you may want to
read my book "Wall Street Watchman":
