Scholars Decipher Ancient 4,000-Year-Old Tablet, Reveal Translation

By translating 4,000-year-old cuneiform tablets, which interpreted moon eclipses as ominous signals, scholars achieved breakthroughs in the understanding of the ancient Mesopotamian civilization.

The British Museum houses the tablets, which were found more than a century ago and include prophecies of doom, illness, and annihilation connected to astronomical patterns. The Journal of Cuneiform Studies published the findings of the study by Junko Taniguchi, an independent researcher, and Andrew George, a former professor of Babylonian (University of London).

According to common belief, the tablets were made in the Babylonian Empire city of Sippar, which is located in modern-day Iraq. The finding gives the earliest instances of moon eclipse omens that have been discovered. The tablets indicate how ancient astrologers could observe the passage of time, the path of shadows, and the exact timing of eclipses to forecast impending disasters.

A tablet forecasted the downfall of an ancient Iranian civilization known as Elam and the death of its monarch whenever there was a rapid darkening and clearing of an eclipse. According to other foreboding prophecies, the eclipse’s features would determine which ancient areas would collapse, including Subartu (Assyria) and Akkad (now central Iraq). An eclipse during the evening is a harbinger of pestilence, according to one omen from another tablet. 

Other studies show that a wide variety of ancient civilizations utilized curse tablets to appease the spirits of the dead and soothe disturbed graves. Some called on spirits to cause trouble.  These civilizations include the Mesopotamians, Egyptians, Greeks, Christians, Jews, Romans, Persians, Gauls, and Britons.

Contrary to popular belief, the Babylonians did not believe in fatalism but rather in the power of rituals and incantations to ward off bad luck. This is why divination was a highly esteemed skill and why its practitioners held prominent positions in society.

Strict standards were used to sort and categorize the omens as either white or black or as the opposition on the left or right. 

Researchers claim the eclipse tablets provide new information about the Mesopotamians’ use of celestial divination in the second millennium BC. They are the oldest examples of the collection of lunar-eclipse omens that have been found so far.