Silverman-The Divine Science of Babylonian Astrology

Kepler College
August 2000
Advisor: Nick Campion
The Divine Science of Babylonian Astrology
Scott Silverman
I have been asked to comment upon whether Babylonian astrology should be classified as a science or as
a form of divination. By Babylonian astrology, I am referring to the omen based astrology that
developed in and around the Mesopotamian river valley during a succession of cultural dynasties that
spanned the first three millennia prior to the Common Era. The list of dynasties begins with the
Sumerians who were conquered by the Akkaddians whose culture was in turn displaced by the Old
Babylonian Empire associated with Hammurabis reign. The Old Babylonian Empire was followed by
the Hittites, the Kassites, the Assyrians, the Chaldeans, the Persians, until, finally, Alexander the Great
defeated the Persians and this areas Hellenistic Period commenced. What remains most remarkable
about the long procession of empire after empire, with its corresponding epochs of chaos and stability, is
the apparently uninterrupted development of Babylonian astrology from an omen based art to a
sophisticated science of astronomical observation, mathematical innovation and temporal/spatial
extrapolation of celestial phenomena (Aveni, Stairways, p.181) divorced from the priestly exigencies of
omina impetrative (1).
Having explained what I mean by Babylonian astrology, it is only fifing to quantify the two proposed
choices of classification, science and divination. According to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, Sixth
edition, science is first defined as "Knowledge" (it is noted that this is an archaic usage) and, secondly,
as "systematic and formulated knowledge". The fourth listed definition is "Branch of "knowledge (esp.
one that can be constructed on scientific principles),[an] organized body of knowledge that has been
accumulated on a subject" (OD, p.1014). Meanwhile, divination is revealed to mean "divining, insight
into or discovery of the unknown or future by supernatural means" as well as" skillful forecast" (OD,
p.302). The lexicographer in this case has steered the reader toward the modern meaning of the word.
For the ancient Babylonians, divination may have meant something else indeed.
It is pertinent here to discuss the word from which it is derived. Divine used as an adjective is said to
mean "[o)f, from, like God or a god" whereas to divine is to "[d]iscover by inspiration, magic,
intuition, or guessing" and also to "foresee, predict, conjecture"(OED, 302). These definitions, blended
together, provide a superior definition of what divination may have meant to the ancient Babylonians: a
guess or prediction inspired by a god.
One of the ways the ancient Babylonians practiced the art of divination was through the observation and
interpretation of events and natural phenomena which manifested within their immediate environment.
Such events or phenomena, i.e., the birth of a deformed animal or an unusual flight pattern of birds in
the sky, were believed to be expressions of the inscrutable will of the gods and harbingers of
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Silverman-The Divine Science of Babylonian Astrology
approaching fortune, for good or for ill.
The most prevalent forms of interpretative omen reading in Babylonia are believed to have been the
observation of celestial events (in both the day and night sky) and extispicy which involved reading "the
marks in the entrails"(Cornelius, p.14.7) of a sacrificial animal. Most often it was the liver that "was
studied and meaning drawn from the shape, form, color, distinction, direction, moisture content, clarity,
curvature, location and number of blemishes and marks"(Houlding, p.11). Deborah Houlding notes in
the introduction to her book, The Houses: Temples of the Sky, that the early astrology of Mesopotamia
was similar in technique to hepatoscopy since "the interpretation of a star or planet was derived from its
color, luminosity, speed, location in the heavenly sphere and general appearance" (Houlding, p.11).
However, in the era of Hammurabi (approximately 1780 BC), "the secondary status of divination from
celestial phenomenon in relation to extispicy" (Barton, p.11) was exemplified by the attitude of an
astrologically inclined letter writer who, in order to be sure that a recent eclipse was, in fact, a bad omen,
felt obliged to go look at a liver (2).
The celestial omens observed and remarked upon by the Babylonian astrologers included the heliacal
risings and settings of stars and planets, eclipses, the alignment of celestial bodies, the cyclical
appearance and disappearence of planets in the night sky as well as such unexpected sky ephemera such
as comets, meteor showers, and shooting stars. In a recent article, one scholar stressed the necessity of
"personal and direct observation of the whole process of sunrise and sunset"(Kolev, Lesson 1, p.14)
since "the colours of the sky and clouds were taken into account" (Kolev, p14). He goes on to conjecture
that
"[t]he babylonian priest looks at the sky as an artist. He observes and enjoys
the colors and luminosity of the planets and stars. He observes and enjoys
the colors, luminosity, and shape of the clouds. He watches the firmament
of the sky as a picture drawn by God... no prognosis is possible in
Babylonian Astrology without direct observations made personally by the
astrologer" (Kolev, p.1 4)
The above passage, speculative as it may be, introduces the idea that a Babylonian priests aesthetics
might as much as anything else (say his awareness of court politics or the physical acuity of his vision)
color his interpretation of a particular celestial event and lead him to declare it one type of omen rather
than another. The significance or meaning of a celestial omen, no matter how codified in any of the
collections of categorized omens such as the Enuma Anu Enlil, which contained over 7,000 omens or
The Mul.Apin tablets, ultimately depended upon the judgement call of its interpreter. "Mars was seen,
why didnt you write", one king wrote to an astrologer (Holden, p.3) who must have been busy with
other more ominous portents.
Geoffrey Cornelius discusses the concept of participatory significance at length in regard to omens in
his book, The Moment of Astrology. Cornelius makes the point that "an omen is only an omen if
recognized as such... and its significance is dependant on the participation for those who it is
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present"(Cornelius, p.147). In other words, the omen is only "significant for someone who perceives it
as significant" as opposed to "the modern... attitude which assigns an apparently non-participatory
significance to events"(Cornelius, p.147). Jean Bottero makes the distinction that the future for omen
intrepreters of antiquity was "not a real future, an absolute future which would take place inevitably"
but rather "a future which the gods had decreed hic et nunc "(Bottero, p.33) and these same gods could
be prevailed upon to alter the course of events extrapolated by the diviner in regard to "divine decisions
that touched upon the future of the interested party"(Bottero, p.33). Persuaded, perhaps, by ritual
sacrifice or prayer, the gods might be merciful in the same way a king "was free.., to put off the
punishment of someone he had originally condemned"(Bottero, p.33)
The Babylonian astrologers addressed the problem of the future like their slightly more modern Hellenic
counterparts who visited the Delphic Oracle circa 750, BCE. It has been conjectured that the majority of
consultations there "concerned matters of public and private concern, mainly asking what should be
done", instead of requests for a straight secular prediction of the future" ( Cornelius, p.147). The
emphasis of the Babylonian priest may therefore have been less about what would happen than what
should happen. "A possible prediction" in the context of ancient divination is incidental to the main
task, which is to consult with the gods" (Cornelius, 142). Or, as Geoffrey Cornelius flatly states in his
previously cited book, "[d]ivination is understood as the interpretation of the will of divine
beings"(Cornelius, p.141).
The modern concept of divination is more or less synonymous with fortune telling; its main
preoccupation is with foretelling or predicting the objective future. The traditional Western mindset on
the future is that it will be here tomorrow, like it or not, or to paraphrase a popular song (and its fatalistic
subtext) "que sera, que sera, what will be, will be". In the contemporary sense, then, the ancient
astrology of Babylonia cannot be strictly considered divination since its goal was not so much to predict
the future as it was to interact with it, i.e., the future as it was understood to be an extension of divine,
or, to paraphrase the Oxford Concise Dictionary ,"of, like, from... a god." On the other hand, Babylonian
astrology can be understood to a science since it remains "an organized body of knowledge that has been
been accumulated on a subject" (OD, p.1014) with its vast tradition of omens "set down in writing and
codified by the priests" (Cumont, p.16).
This organized body of knowledge can today be deciphered in the tablets which comprise The Enurna
Anu Enlil series, the Mul.Apin, and the Venus Tablet of Ammisduqua. However, closing the Oxford
English Dictionary firmly shut, it must be acknowledged that against a rationalist framework, with its
agenda of reproducible hypotheses and proofs, Babylonian astrology could not hope to come up with the
credentials of a hard science. So where does that leave one?
Science and divination enjoyed a reciprocal relationship in the context of Babylonian astrology. It was
the necessity for accurate astronomical knowledge upon which the priests would base their astrological
divination, i.e., "their need to know how often the planetary gods would meet in the sky"(Aveni,48), that
led to the development of many of Babylonias greatest accomplishments in the areas of mathematics,
calendar construction, and, of course, astronomy. Like the developmental pas de deux between
caterpillar and butterfly, Babylonian astrology cannot be strictly said to be either science or divination. It
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was simultaneously both and neither -- two distinct paths running roughly parallel that eventually flowed
together, much like the Tigris and Euphrates rivers between whose banks so many empires rose and fell.
Notes
(1) ornina irnpetriativa translates from the latin asunbidden omen; the distinction between bidden
and unbidden omens is detailed in Cornelius, p. 141-42
(2) Author Barton acknowledges that she is quoting a letter cited by scholar A.Finet in his article
"Laplace du devin dans le societe de Maru."
References
Aveni, Anthony F., Ancient Astronomers, Montreal: St.Remy Press, 1993
Aveni, Anthony F., Stairways to the Stars: Skywatching in Three Great Ancient Cultures, New York:
John Wiley & Sons, Inc,1997
Barton, Tamsyn, Ancient Astrology, London:Routledge, 1994
Bottero, Jean, Mesopotamia, Chicago:University of Chicago Press, 1992
Campion, Nicholas, Babylonian Astrology: Its Origin and Legacy in Europe, in Selin,
Helaine (ed.), Astronomies Across Cultures, Kluwer Academic Press, 2000
Concise Oxford Dictionaty, 6th Edition, Oxford University Press, 1986
Cornelius, Geoffrey, The Moment of Astrology, Penguin/Arkana, 1994
Cumont, Franz, Astrology and Religion Among the Greeks and Romans (1912), Montana: Kessinger
Publishing Company
Holden, James H., A History of Horoscopic Astrology, Tempe:Arizona, American Federation of
Astrologers, 1996
Houlding, Deborah, The Houses: Temples of the Sky, Ascella Publications, 1998
Kolev, Rumen K., Astrological Prognoses in Babylon, CONSIDERATIONS, Vol XV., no 2, May-June
2000, p11-19
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Kolev, Rumen K., The Essence of Babylonian Astrology, CONSIDERATIONS, Vol XV, no 2, May-
June, 2000, p.8-11
Kolev, Rumen K., Lessons 1-2, in Babylonian Astrology: A Correspondence Course, available from
author, Varna, Bulgaria, 2000
Thurston, Hugh, Early Astronomy, New York: Springer-Verlag, 1994, p.64-79
Wilson, Robert, Astronomy Through the Ages, Princeton: New Jersey, Princeton University Press, 1997
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