This revealing work examines an approach from ancient astronomy to what
was then a particularly important question, namely that of understanding
the relationship between the position in the ecliptic and the time it
takes for a fixed-length of the ecliptic beginning at that point to rise
above the eastern horizon. Schemes known as "rising time schemes" were
used to give lengths of the celestial equator corresponding to each of
the twelve zodiacal signs which make up the ecliptic. This book
investigates the earliest known examples of these schemes which come
from Babylonia and date to the mid to late first millennium BC. Making
an important contribution to our knowledge of astronomy in the ancient
world, this volume includes editions and translations of all of the
known Babylonian rising time texts, including several texts that are
identified for the first time. Through a close examination of the
preserved texts it has been possible to reconstruct the complete
Babylonian rising time scheme. This reconstruction is unprecedented in
its completeness, and it is also now possible to situate the scheme
within a genre of Babylonian astronomy known as schematic astronomy
which presents theoretical descriptions of the astronomical phenomena.
The unique discoveries and fresh explorations in this book will be of
interest to historians of ancient astronomy, scholars of Babylonian
history and those investigating the origins of scientific thought.