Babylonian astrology
[1] In Babylon as well as in Assyria as a direct offshoot of Babylonian culture, astrology takes its place as one of the two chief means at the disposal of the priests (who were called bare or "inspectors") for ascertaining the will and intention of the gods, the other being through the inspection of the livers of sacrificial animals (see haruspicy).
[3] By the 16th century BC, the extensive employment of omen-based astrology can be evidenced in the compilation of a comprehensive reference work known as Enuma Anu Enlil.
[4] At this time Babylonian astrology was solely mundane, and prior to the 7th century BC the practitioners' understanding of astronomy was fairly rudimentary.
[citation needed] By the 4th century BC, however, their mathematical methods had progressed enough to calculate future planetary positions with reasonable accuracy, at which point extensive ephemerides began to appear.
A collection of 32 tablets with inscribed liver models, dating from about 1875 BC, are the oldest known detailed texts of Babylonian divination, and these demonstrate the same interpretational format as that employed in celestial omen analysis.
[6] Blemishes and marks found on the liver of the sacrificial animal were interpreted as symbolic signs which presented messages from the gods to the king.
[9]Ulla Koch-Westenholz, in her 1995 book Mesopotamian Astrology, argues that this ambivalence between a theistic and mechanic worldview defines the Babylonian concept of celestial divination as one which, despite its heavy reliance on magic, remains free of implications of targeted punishment with the purpose of revenge, and so "shares some of the defining traits of modern science: it is objective and value-free, it operates according to known rules, and its data are considered universally valid and can be looked up in written tabulations".
[13] By observing the seasonal movement of the sun, moon, and planets, the Babylonians connected their beliefs of divine intervention in their everyday life to space and time.
They would forecast their future circumstances by observing space through time and relating ominous events, such as a lunar eclipses, to social, political, and environmental problems in aspects of their everyday lives, such as giving birth to deformed children.
The parallels between horoscopes and nativity omens from a Seleucid Tablet shows the benefic and malefic natures of the planets in Babylonian astrology.
The interpretations themselves were based (as in the case of divination through the liver) chiefly on two factors: Thus, if on a certain occasion, the rise of the new moon in a cloudy sky was followed by victory over an enemy or by abundant rain, the sign in question was thus proved to be a favourable one and its recurrence would thenceforth be regarded as a good omen, though the prognostication would not necessarily be limited to the one or the other of those occurrences, but might be extended to apply to other circumstances.
According to a kalendartext discovered, belonging to a mašmaššu priest in the late Babylonian period of Uruk named Iqīšâ, different remedies are created for patients for different days, depending on the date.
It is very possible that the whole concept of astral medicine in terms of the kalendartexte and other such sources were, as previously stated, simply theory and never intended for real use.
In Babylonia and Assyria the cult centred largely and indeed almost exclusively in the public welfare and the person of the king, because upon his well-being and favour with the gods the fortunes of the country were dependent, in accordance with the ancient conception of kingship.
Similarly, the other accomplishments of Babylonian astronomers, such as their system or rather systems of moon calculations and the drawing up of planetary tablets, belong to this late period, so that the golden age of Babylonian astronomy belongs not to the remote past, as was until recently supposed, but to the Seleucid period; i.e. after the advent of the Greeks in the Euphrates Valley.
Some of Assurbanipal's astrologers, such as Rammanu-sumausar and Nabu-musisi, became so adept at deducing omens from daily movements of the planets that a system of making periodical reports to the king came into being.
