"The king shall die, the nation shall fall": scientists have deciphered the oldest Babylonian texts with predictions of potential catastrophes

Did everyone think of the same country?

Scientists have managed to decode four Babylonian cuneiform tablets that are 4,000 years old, which predict future disasters based on lunar eclipses.

In fact, they were discovered about 100 years ago, but the results of the deciphering were only published now in the Journal of Cuneiform Studies.

“Dark Omens”

A lunar eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when the Earth is positioned between the Sun and the Moon, causing the Moon to enter the Earth's shadow or penumbra. As celestial bodies have been an unchanging part of life around the world, different cultures throughout history have developed their own explanations for their movements. This was also true for the ancient Babylonians, who believed that the Moon and stars reflected the will and desires of the gods and even foretold the future.

According to the deciphered texts, the Babylonians regarded lunar eclipses as harbingers of something negative—such as the death of a king. To avoid missing such a “dark” event, they even developed their own method for calculating the timing of eclipses, known as the saros cycle, which spans over a period of 223 lunar months.

“The King Will Die, the Nation Will Fall”

This collection of four tablets is believed by scientists to be the oldest of all Babylonian texts currently held in museums worldwide. Here is a list of what lunar eclipses foretold for the Babylonians, according to the current decipherings:

• Plague
• Economic troubles
• Death of the ruler
• Fall of ElamElam was one of the oldest known civilizations, an ancient country in southwestern Iran, roughly within modern provinces of Khuzestan and Ilam (the latter derives its name from Elam).
• Major flooding
• End of a dynasty
• Uprising

Interestingly, some of these signs were conditional. For instance, certain omens carried two interpretations: either the king would die and the people in his land would prosper; or he would not die, and the people would suffer thereafter.

Overall, the decipherings are consistent with what is known about general religious practices, as the Babylonians also employed magical rituals in attempts to protect the king (when needed).

Today, lunar eclipses carry no such omens (except perhaps for individuals). The tablets themselves are merely further evidence that the Babylonians achieved significant progress in astronomy thousands of years ago.

Source: iflscience, jpost