Ancient Tablets Foretold Doom Awaiting Babylonian Kings
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A recent interpretation of ancient cuneiform artifacts from the second millennium B.C. underscores the ominous interpretations that astrologers attributed to eclipses.
In ancient Babylonia, being a monarch was advantageous, except when an eclipse occurred during one's rule. Such celestial events were seen as harbingers of insurrection, military defeat, territorial loss, disease, drought, agricultural failure, locust swarms, or even the king's demise. If the latter was predicted, the king would retreat into seclusion, and a stand-in—often a prisoner or someone deemed simple-minded—would be appointed until the threat subsided. To placate the deities, a sacrifice was necessary, leading to the execution of the substitute upon the king's return.
The inhabitants of Mesopotamia during this era attributed significant prophetic meaning to astronomical occurrences. Eclipses were perceived as wrathful communications from the divine. “The interpretation of omens was the Babylonians' way of understanding their environment,” remarked Andrew George, an Assyriologist and emeritus professor at the University of London, whose translation of the epic of Gilgamesh is widely recognized.
Dr. George spearheaded a research project published recently in the Journal of Cuneiform Studies, which decoded a collection of four tablets inscribed with cuneiform writing, housed in the British Museum since the late 19th century. These clay tablets likely originated from Sippar, a thriving city along the Euphrates River, in present-day Iraq, and are dated approximately between 1894 B.C. and 1595 B.C.
The artifacts serve as a compilation of Babylonian astrologers' records of lunar eclipses, unveiling a series of foreboding predictions regarding royal deaths and the downfall of societies. “The aim of these omen texts was to discern the messages from the gods, whether favorable or unfavorable, to take preventive measures against impending issues,” Dr. George explained.
The belief was that the terrestrial realm mirrored the celestial, meaning events in the sky had corresponding effects on earth. Thus, an eclipse of the sun or moon indicated that a significant earthly figure would face a similar fate, such as a king's death. “This theory may have emerged from the actual occurrence of an eclipse coinciding with a monarch's passing—an experience early in Mesopotamian history,” Dr. George noted. “However, it is also plausible that this concept was entirely developed through analogy. We cannot ascertain the truth.”
The Babylonians perceived signs everywhere, which is reflected in the tablets' numerous references to the behavior of birds, the patterns formed by oil droplets in water, smoke from incense, and encounters with various animals like snakes, pigs, cats, and scorpions. The newly translated tablets contain 61 predictions ranging from warnings of natural calamities (“A flood will arrive and diminish the barley at the granaries”) to chaotic events (“Lions will rampage and block the city's exits”). The most heartrending predictions depict the desperation during famine: “People will exchange their infant children for silver.”
