Part 7 (1/2)

[91] This was very clearly seen by the ancients. It could not be put better than by Cicero: ”Principio a.s.syrii, propter planitiem magnitudinemque regionum quas incolebant, c.u.m caelum ex omni parte patens et apertum intuerentur, trajectiones motusque stellarum observaverunt.”--_De Divinatione_, i. 1, 2.

[92] ”Chaldaei ... diuturna observatione siderum scientiam putantur effecisse, ut praedeci posset quid cuique eventurum et quo quisque fato natus esset.”--CICERO, _De Divinatione_, i. 1, 2.

[93] This has been clearly shown by LAPLACE in the _Precis de l'Histoire de l'Astronomie_, which forms the fifth book of his _Exposition du Systeme du Monde_ (fifth edition). He gives a _resume_ of what he believes to have been the chief results obtained by the Chaldaean astronomers (pp. 12-14 in the separate issue of the _Precis_ 1821, 8vo). It would now, perhaps, be possible, thanks to recent discoveries, to give more precise and circ.u.mstantial details than those of Laplace.

[94] AUReS, _Essai sur le Systeme metrique a.s.syrien_, p. 10 (in the _Recueil de Travaux relatifs a la Philologie et a l'Archeologie egyptiennes et a.s.syriennes_, vol. iii. Vieweg, 4to, 1881). We refer those who are interested in these questions to this excellent paper, of which but the first part has as yet been published (1882). All previous works upon the subject are there quoted and discussed.

[95] ”Sixty may be divided by any divisor of ten or twelve. Of all numbers that could be chosen as an invariable denominator for fractions, it has most divisors.”--FR. LENORMANT, _Manuel d'Histoire ancienne_, vol. ii. p.

177, third edition.

[96] AUReS, _Sur le Systeme metrique a.s.syrien_, p. 16. A terra-cotta tablet, discovered in Lower Chaldaea among the ruins of Larsam, and believed with good reason to be very ancient, bears a list of the squares of the fractionary numbers between 1/60 2 and 60/60 2, or 1/60, calculated with perfect accuracy (LENORMANT, _Manuel_, &c. vol. ii. p. 37). See also SAYCE, _Babylonian Augury by means of Geometrical Figures_, in the _Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology_, vol. iv. p. 302.

[97] LENORMANT, _Manuel_, &c. vol. ii. p. 177, third edition.

[98] _Ibid._ p. 37.

[99] LENORMANT, _Manuel_, vol. ii. pp. 175, 178, 180. G. SMITH, _a.s.syrian Discoveries_ (London, 1876, 8vo), pp. 451, 452. RAWLINSON, _Ancient Monarchies_, vol. i. pp. 100, 101, fourth edition. We know that the _Astronomical Canon_ of Ptolemy begins with the accession of a king of Babylon named Nabona.s.sar, in 747 B.C. M. Fr. LENORMANT thinks that the date in question was chosen by the Alexandrian philosopher because it coincided with the subst.i.tution, by that prince, of the solar for the lunar year.

Astronomical observations would thus have become much easier to use, while those registered under the ancient system could only be employed after long and difficult calculations. A reason is thus given for Ptolemy's contentment with so comparatively modern a date. (_Essai sur les Fragments cosmogoniques de Berose_, pp. 192-197.)

[100] See the paper by M. T. H. MARTIN, of Rennes, _Sur les Observations astronomiques envoyees, dit on, de Babylone en Grece par Callisthene_, Paris, 1863.

[101] The texts to this effect will be found collected in the essay of M.

Martin. We shall be content here with quoting a phrase from Cicero which expresses the general opinion: ”Chaldaei cognitione siderum sollertiaque ingeniorum antecellunt.” _De Divinatione_, i. 91.

[102] PLINY, _Natural History_, vii. 57, 3. The ma.n.u.scripts give 720, but the whole context proves that figure to be far too low, neither does it accord with the writer's thought, or with the other statements which he brings together with the aim of showing that the invention of letters may be traced to a very remote epoch. The copyists have certainly omitted an M after the DCCXX. Sillig, following Perizonius has introduced this correction into his text.

[103] LENORMANT, _Manuel_, &c. vol. ii. p. 175.

[104] G. SMITH, _a.s.syrian Discoveries_, p. 407.

[105] LENORMANT, _Manuel_, &c. vol. ii. p. 181.

[106] LAYARD, _Nineveh and its Remains_, vol. i. p. 124. These storms hardly last an hour.

[107] Some a.s.syriologists believe this to represent Merodach.

[108] _History of Art in Ancient Egypt_, vol. i. pp. 56, 57, and figs.

39-45.

[109] RAWLINSON, _The Five Great Monarchies_, &c. vol. i. p. 139.

[110] TIELE, _Histoire comparee des anciennes Religions de l'egypte et des Peuples Semitiques_, translated by Collins, p. 222. The first volume of an English translation, by James Ballingal, has been published in Trubner's Oriental Series.--ED.

[111] _Ibid._ p. 224.

[112] TIELE, _Histoire_, &c. p. 237.

[113] Hence the name Babylon, which has been handed down to us, slightly modified, by cla.s.sic tradition. The true Chaldaean form is _Bab-Ilou_, literally ”The Gate of G.o.d.”

[114] _History of Art in Ancient Egypt_, vol. ii. pp. 399-400 and figs.