Scholars have finally deciphered 4,000-year-old cuneiform tablets discovered over a century ago in what is now Iraq. These tablets describe several lunar eclipse phenomena as omens of death, destruction, and disease.
Foretelling the Death of a King
Andrew George, an honorary professor of Babylonian at the University of London, and Junko Taniguchi, an independent researcher, wrote in a recent paper published in the Journal of Cuneiform Studies. They state that these are the four tablets representing the oldest examples of lunar eclipse omens ever discovered. The authors of these tablets used nighttime, the movement of darkness, dates, and the timing of solar eclipses to predict omens in Pompeii.
For example, one omen states that if “the solar eclipse is obscured from its center at the same time and becomes clear at the same time: a king will die, the destruction of Elam”. Elam was a region in Mesopotamia, located in what is now modern-day Iran.
Another omen states that if “the solar eclipse begins in the south and then clears: the collapse of Subartu and Akkad,” both of which were areas of Mesopotamia at that time.
The image shows one of the cuneiform tablets that researchers have deciphered. (Photo: British Museum).
Another omen reads: “A solar eclipse at the time of dusk: it signifies disease.”
It is possible that ancient astrologers used past experiences to determine the omens of solar eclipses.
“The origins of some omens may stem from practical experience – observing subsequent omens leading to disaster,” George noted. However, he points out that most omens could be identified through a theoretical system linking eclipse characteristics with various omens.
The cuneiform tablets likely originated from Sippar, a prosperous city now located in Iraq, George stated. At the time the tablets were written, the Babylonian Empire was thriving in some regions of the area. These tablets became part of the British Museum’s collection from 1892 to 1914 but were not fully translated until now.
Predicting the Future Through Celestial Phenomena
In Babylon and other regions of Mesopotamia, there was a strong belief that celestial events could predict the future.
People believed that celestial events were coded signs placed by the gods as warnings about the future prospects of those on Earth, George and Taniguchi wrote in their paper.
The kings of ancient Mesopotamia did not solely rely on solar eclipse omens to predict what was about to happen.
George and Taniguchi wrote that: “If the prophecy related to a certain threatening omen, such as ‘a king will die,’ then an investigation into the prophecy by means of divination (examining animal entrails) would be conducted to determine whether the king was truly in danger.”
George and Taniguchi noted that if the animal entrails indicated danger, people believed they could perform certain rituals to counteract the bad omen, thus opposing the evil forces behind it. Therefore, even in the face of bad omens, people still believed they could avert misfortune through predictions.
