Sk1>TK.M1!ER, 1902.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



190 



vear when the eggs are laid to the next June or July year, 

 "when the perfect insect emerges, a period, say, of twenty- 

 two months. The earliest appearance of ^'E. cya)ie'i known 

 to the writer is June 25, and the latest date on which this 

 varietv has been seen flviug about is November "ind. 



FUPHRATEAN DIVISIONS OF THE CIRCLE. 



By Rohert Bkown, Junr., i'.s.a. 



There are in the British Museum three euueiform Frag- 

 ments, numbered respectively Sm. ]62 ; 83-1-18, (JOB and 

 Hl-7-27, 9-t, the two latter of which have not hitherto 

 received the attention they well deserve. For brevity I will 

 refer to these Fragments as J, B and C. Frag. A was dis- 

 covered by George Smith ' in the palace of Sennacherib,' 

 and was subsequently discussed with much ability by 

 Messrs. Bosanquet and Saycv,<i> ^jm jjq^ jj^ connectiim with 

 the general question of the reconstruction of the Euphra- 

 tean Planisphere. So far as I am aware. Frags. B and C 

 have not been studied except by myself. Frag. ^ is a 

 portion of a sphere consisting of an outer and an inner 

 circle, each divided into two parts. In the outer circle to 

 the left is written the name of the 8th month of the year, 

 and below it 'the Constellation Beast- of-death' {= Lupus). 

 Below this is the number ' 14U.' Below this, in the 

 inner circle, is wi itten ' the Constellation the Scorpion ' 

 {= Scorpio) ; and below this name is written the number 

 ' 70.' In the outer circle to the right is written the name 

 of the 9th month of the year, and below it ' the Constella- 

 tion the Ancient Altar' {^ Ara)S-'> Below this is the 

 number ' 12t).' Below this, in the inner circle, is written 

 ' the Constellation the Archer ' {^= Sagittarius) ; and below 

 this is written the number ' 60.' 



Frag. B is a portion of a sphere consisting of an 

 outer and an inner circle. In the outer circle is written 

 'the Constellation the Scorpion,' and below this name is 

 the number ' 70.' Below this, in the inner circle, is written 

 ' the Constellation the King,' and below this name is 

 written the number ' 35.' It will therefore be observed 

 that the original Planisphere consisted of 3 circles, and 

 that fortunately one segment of it has been preserved, 

 viz. : — 



Outer circle — Constellation Lupus. No. of degrees, 140. 



Central „ „ Scorpio. „ 70. 



Inner „ „ Hercules.^^^ ,, 35. 



Of course the reader will notice the highly interesting fact 

 that these constellations, alike in name and in position, 

 are those of our own modern sphere ; but, as I am now 

 only speaking of divisions of the circle, I merely mention 

 this in passing. 



Frag. C is a portion of a sphere consisting of an 

 outer circle divided into two parts. In the part to the left 

 is written the name of the 1 1th month, and, below it, ' the 

 Constellation Fish-of-the-Canal ' (= Piscis Australis). 

 Below this is the number ' 80.' In the part to the right 

 is written part of the name of the 12th month. Thus in 



' Monlhlif Notica of the Boyal Astron. Soc. Vol. XL. No. 3, 

 Jan. 1880. ' 



' Vide R. B. J""-, Primitive Constellations, ii. 0-9. 



' .Amongst the later names of this constellation are Malica 



(= Phcenician Melekh, 'the King,' = Babylonian Sarru. = Sumero- 

 Akkadian Lugal, the name on the Fragment), Melicartus (— G-k. 

 Meiikerfis, = Phccniciuu Melqilrtk, ' King-of-the-City,' the Tyrian 

 Herakles). and Hacerit (= Gk. Makar, = P)neniciau Melqarth). 

 The Gk. name MerakUs, for which there is no Aryan derivation, is :i 

 rendering of the Phoenician Rnrekhal ('the Traveller'), tlie 

 wandering sun-god, patron of colonies like Apolldn. UirakUs = 

 Latin Hercules. 



these Fragments we have the 8th month connected with 

 140°. the 9th with 120°, and the Uth with 80°. Hence, it 

 is obvious that this outer circle was divided into 12 parts, 

 one for each month; and, further, that each of the 12 parts 

 was divided into 20^, whence the whole circle consisted of 

 12 X 20 = 240°. Lastly, as the 11th month was connected 

 with 80°, a lower number than that connected with the 

 9th month, the 12th month must have been connected 

 with (50°, the 1st with 40°, and the 2nd with 20°. Hence, 

 at the time of the formation of this circle the Bull, the 

 constellation of the 2nd month, led the year ; and thus 

 the arrangement of the circle was prior to B.C. 2540. 



It is equally obvious that the central or zodiacal circle 

 consisted of 12 divisions of 10° each, =120° ; and that the 

 inner circle consisted of 12 divisions of 5° each, = <;0° 

 All this can be seen at a glance on reference to Fig. l,and 



Fig. 1.— Euphrateau Planisphere. Reconstructed in accordance 

 with the Monuments. (The dotted lines sliow the extent of the 

 existing Fragments.) 



when the principle contained in the 3 Fragments was 

 once grasped, the restoration of the Planisphere followed 

 as of course, and is a matter of mathematical certainty. 

 The entire Planisphere was intended to embody a formal 

 scheme of 36 constellations, 12 northern, 12 central or 

 zodiacal, and 12 southern ; but, as I am not speaking of 

 stars and their groups, I shall not again refer to this fact. 

 We thus obtain three further divisions of the circle, into 

 60°, 12i>°, and 240°; and what at once strikes us about 

 these divisions is the prominence they give to the numbers 

 6 and 10, and to 60, the result of their multiplication. 

 The number of degrees in the inner and outer circles 

 depends upon the number of degrees in the central circle, 

 and is obtained by halving and doubling respectively. 

 But how was the number 120 obtained for the central 

 circle ? I wish to deal as much as jjossible with fact only, 

 and not with theory, still less with mere possibility ; and 

 therefore will merely remark that, as noticed, the number 

 Ten was regarded as ' many,' and that the process of 

 multiplication by 10 appears to have been originally 

 considered as a mode of expressing ' a great number,' in 

 fact as an intensification. Moreover, we shall see from 

 other figures and totals that, as numerical computation 

 advanced, this method of expressing a great, vast, or 

 enormous number was freciuently employed. A number 



