Astrology in General

Enūma Anu Enlil

The series Enūma Anu Enlil was the standard reference work on Mesopotamian astral omens and were cited by astrologer-priests up to the Seleucid Period. The collection consisted of 68 [or 70] tablets, each containing about 100 omens. In the early assyriological literature, this work is often referred to as the “Observations of Bel” or the “Illumination of Bel”.

The omens in this series were grouped as follows:

Of special importance for the chronology of the Old Babylonian Period (early 2nd millennium BC) is the set of Venus omens collected in tablet 63 and dating from the reign of Ammizaduqa, a grandson of the Babylonian king Hammurabi. References to the Venus omens are discussed in the separate section on Astronomical chronology.

The Omen Series Iqqur īpuš

Sections 67-102 of the omen series Iqqur īpuš (“[On the day] when one demolishes and builds [a new edifice]”) contains many quotes from the astrological omen series Enūma Anu Enlil.

Astrometeorology

Babylonian Horoscopes

The Substitute King Ritual

When omens (astrological or otherwise) indicated an approaching calamity for the king, a substitute king (šah pukhi) was appointed during the period of the crisis while the king, who was usually referred to as “the farmer”, assumed the guise of a common man in order to escape the divine threat.

The substitute king was usually supplied with a substitute queen and a mock court but after the crisis had passed the substitute king and queen were put to death and the king resumed command again. However, when Erra-imitti, the king of Isin, happened to die during such a crisis after accidentally “drinking a hot broth”, the substitute king Enlil-bani remained on the throne.

A relatively late and garbled account of the substitute king ritual is perhaps referred to amongst the various omens that were observed during the last days of Alexander the Great (Diodorus Siculus, Library of History XVII 116.1-4; Plutarch of Chaironeia, Life of Alexander 73-74; Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander VII 24.1-3).


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