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Cuneiform Descriptions of Transient Phenomena

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2020

H. Hunger
H. Hunger*
Affiliation:
Institut für Orientalistik, University of Vienna, A-1090 Vienna, Austria email: hermann.hunger@univie.ac.at
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Abstract

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Sources from Ancient Mesopotamia contain mention of transient astronomical phenomena in two contexts: in records of observations, many of which can be dated, and in collections of omens, which use the appearance of such phenomena to predict future events. These omens consider quite a range of phenomena, but only rarely can they be dated in a precise way. This paper describes how transient phenomena were handled in both kinds of context.

Keywords

History and philosophy of astronomy
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 14 , Symposium A30: Astronomy in Focus XXX , August 2018 , pp. 167 - 170
Copyright
© International Astronomical Union 2020

References

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