The scheme of lengths of moonlight (1)

Text
Enūma Anu Enlil 14th tablet gives the scheme of lengths of moonlight on the thirty nights of a synodic month, which occurs in a modified form in Pliny.

Pliny the Elder, Naturalia Historia 2.11 (14):
It is unquestionable that the moon’s horns are always turned away from the sun, and that when waxing she faces east and when waning west; and that the moon shines 47½ minutes longer daily from the day after new moon to full and 47½ minutes less daily to her wane, while within 14 degrees of the sun she is always invisible. This fact proves that the planets are of greater magnitude than the moon, since these occasionally become visible even on reaching 7 degrees distance; but their altitude makes them appear smaller, just as the sun’s radiance makes the fixed stars invisible in daytime, although they are shining as much as in the night, which becomes manifest at a solar eclipse and also when the star is reflected in a very deep well.

Sources (list of abbreviations) (source links will open in a new browser window)
Enūma Anu Enlil 14
Pliny the Elder, Naturalia Historia 2.11 (14)

Bibliography

Amar Annus

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