Astrology / History

Mesopotamia

    
    The worship of planetary deities took on its major form after about 2,000 B.C. with the worship of Sin (The Moon), Shamash (the Sun), Ishtar (Venus), Nergal (Mars), Marduk (Jupiter), and Ninurta (Saturn). These names changed at different times, and have come down to us in various forms; for example Ninurta is sometimes Ninib.
    
    It is interesting to note that, before 2,000 B.C., the semitic Akkadians, who came from the north of Mesopotamia, regarded the Moon and Venus as male and the Sun as female.
    
    We know little about the civilization of the early Sumerians, although it is likely that, not only were they obsessed by divination of all kinds, but their mathematics was of an equivalent standard to that in 17th century Europe. All that was needed was to combine an interest in astronomy with existing divination and mathematics in order to produce the earliest astrology. It is probable that this process started sometime around 2,000 B.C., for the earliest known astrological text we have is dated before 1600 B.C. The text concerned is the so-called Venus Tablet Of Amisaduqa, written during the reign of King Amisaduqa of Babylon between 1646 and 1626 B.C.
    
    "In month XI, 15th day, Venus disappeared in the west. Three days it stayed away, then on the 18th day it became visible in the east. Springs will open and Adad will bring his rain and Ea his floods. Messages of reconciliation will be sent from King to King."
    
    Already it will be seen that Venus has acquired its traditional benefic attributions. The Venus Tablet forms part of a senes of omen tablets known as the Enuma Anu Enlil ("When the gods Anu and Enlil..."), which was preserved in the library of the Assyrian King Ashurbanipal (669 - 626 B.C.). The Enuma Anu Enlil is a collection of omens compiled between 1600 and 1,000 B.C. and is representative of the development of astrology over that period. The astrology contained in the tablets is based on the rising and setting of planets and is exclusively mundane, that is, concerned with making predictions for the entire country, and the King, who was regarded as the personification of the country. It seems that astrology was already spreading beyond the limits of the Mesopotamian river valley, for traces of the Enuma Anu Enlil have been found in Eastern Turkey and dated to before 1360 B.C. The library of Ashurbanipal also contained the first known star catalogue, the Mul Apin, (c 687 B.C.) a record of Assyrian attempts to chart the sky. One of the most important dates of this period was 747 B.C., known as the Era of Nabonassar, after the Assyrian king who reigned at the time. Tradition states that this was the date from which detailed astronomical records were kept, but it is not known how accurate this belief is. It is, however, possible that some major codification of astronomy and astrology did take place around this time

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