David Pingree

A Descriptive Catalogue of the Sanskrit and other Indian Manuscripts of the Chandra Shum Shere Collection in the Bodleian Library Part I: Jyotihsastra

The second in an intended series of studies of the canonical corpus of celestial omens, Enuma Anu Enlil, the name by which this series of omens was known to the ancient Babylonians. Nineteen texts, probably representing Tablets 50 and 51, form the basis of this study of the constellations or 'fixed stars', and the omens associated with them. The omens described in the nineteen texts come from tablets found mainly in Assurbanipal's library at Kuyunjik (the ancient Nineveh) and were inscribed in the seventh century B.C.

The first in an intended series of studies of the canonical corpus of celestial omens, Enuma Anu Enlil. Tablet 63, the 'Venus' tablet, forms the basis of this study. Enuma Anu Enlil is the name by which the series of celestial omens was known to the Babylonians. The canonical corpus of celestial omens was divided by the ancient Babylonian scribes into about 70 tablets. Tablet 63 is of special interest to historians concerned with the chronology of the First Babylonian Dynasty.