They were able to decipher the Babylonian tablets from 3000 years ago. Years. They talk about destruction.

Our partner’s advertising links are included in the text.

Artificial intelligence can be used for far more useful things than generating funny pictures and disco ballads. And in the hands of scientists, it could be a tool that could push forward research that has been stagnant for decades.

The scientific journal “Journal of Cuneiform Studies” published an article discussing the content of ancient Babylonian tablets written in cuneiform. They were found 100 years ago, but until now no one has been able to decipher the 4,000-year-old notes. Years of cuneiform writing. The tablets date back to around 1200 BC and come from the wealthy Babylonian city of Sippar, part of modern-day Iraq.

What was written on the tablets? It turns out that these are notes on lunar eclipses, which in Babylon were not only perceived as astronomical phenomena, but were interpreted as the influence of evil forces. According to the prevailing beliefs of that time, a lunar eclipse was supposed to be a harbinger of tragedy.

Cuneiform tablet describing a lunar eclipse

Cuneiform tablet describing a lunar eclipseSource: British Museum

In one of the paintings we can read:

An eclipse during morning observation means the end of a dynasty.

If the eclipse suddenly completely obscures its center and suddenly becomes completely clear: the king will die and Elam will be destroyed.

Another pessimistic prediction from the next tablet says:

An eclipse in the evening means plague. If the eclipse is in the wrong direction, nothing will be saved, and there will be flooding everywhere.

It is worth noting that many current researchers tend to believe that divination and astrology were used in Mesopotamia and Babylon as a tool to control power. When the king made decisions that were unfavorable to the people, the soothsayers could use phenomena such as eclipses to influence their opinions and the way they ruled, and predict good or bad outcomes.

Are you interested in astronomy? Check out our deals on popular telescopes:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You May Also Like

The rings of Uranus in new images from the Webb telescope

Uranus is the seventh planet in the solar system. It is a…

An unparalleled lunar eclipse. This is what it looks like from space

Samantha Cristoforetti, an astronaut from the European Space Agency, shared a beautiful…

Launching the largest fusion reactor in the world! This is not over yet

JT-60SA is a superconducting tokamak. A tokamak, on the other hand, is…

Euclid does in a week what Hubble did in five years. The satellite images will be exceptional

Once the Euclid telescope entered orbit, it first had to reach the…