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A Zodiacal calendar from Qumran cave 4 is the earliest evidence for astronomical treatises of Mul Apin type in Aramaic from the West. It presents a table in which the days of the twelve synodic months in each of which the new moon occurs in one of the twelve zodiacal signs are correlated with the sign in which the moon is on that day. It provides a vital link to the analogous later Byzantine Greek texts. It attests the Mesopotamian 360-days astronomical year and is the earliest West-Semitic evidence for the names of Zodiacal signs.
Qumran scrolls, 4Q318 col. 7-8.6:
… and in 13 and in 14 Cancer, in 15 and in 16 Leo, in 17 and in 18 Virgo, in 19 and in 20 and in 21 Libra, in 22 [and in 23] Scorpio, in 24 and in 25 Sagitt[arius], in 26 and in 27 and in 28 [Capricorn], in 29 and in 30 Aquari[us … ] Shebat: in 1 and in 2 [Pisc]es, in 3 and in 4 [Aries, in] 5 and in [6 and in] 7 Taurus, in 8 [and in 9 Gemini,] in 10 [and in 11] Cancer, in 12 [and in] 13 and in 14 Leo, [in 15 and in 16 Virgo], in 17 and in 18 Libra, in 19 [and in 20 and in 21 S]corpio, in 22 [and] in 23 Sagittarius, in 24 and in 25 Capricorn, [in 26 and in 27] and in 28 Aquarius, in 29 and in 30 Pisces. Adar: in 1 and in 2 Aries, in 3 and in 4 Taurus, in 5, [in 6 and in 7 Gemini], in 8 and in 9 [Cancer, in 10 and in 11] Leo, in 12 and in 13 [and in 14] Virg[o], in 15 and in [16 Libra, in] 17 and in 18 [Scorpio, in] 19 and in 20 Sagitt[arius], in 22 and in 23 [Cap]ricorn, [in 24 and in 25] Aquarius, in 26 and in 27 [and in 28] Pi[sces, in 29 and in 30] Aries.
Source (list of abbreviations)
Qumran scrolls, 4Q318 col. 7-8.6
Bibliography
| Greenfield and Sokoloff 1995, 510 | Greenfield, J. C. and M. Sokoloff. “An Astrological Text from Qumran (4Q318) and Reflections on some Zodiacal Names.” Revue de Qumran 69-70 (1995) 507-525. |
Amar Annus
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