SCIENCE OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA 



alluvial lands of Mesopotamia. One Assurbanipal, 

 king of Assyria B.C. 668-626, added to the royal library 

 at Nineveh his contribution of tablets, which included 

 many series of documents which related exclusively 

 to the astrology of the ancient Babylonians, who in 

 turn had borrowed it with modifications from the 

 Sumerian invaders of the country. Among these must 

 be mentioned the series which was commonly called 

 1 the Day of Bel,' and which was decreed by the learned 

 to have been written in the time of the great Sargon I., 

 king of Agade, 3800 B.C. With such ancient works as 

 these to guide them, the profession of deducing omens 

 from daily events reached such a pitch of importance 

 in the last Assyrian Empire that a system of making 

 periodical reports came into being. By these the king 

 was informed of all the occurrences in the heavens and 

 on earth, and the results of astrological studies in re- 

 spect to after events. The heads of the astrological 

 profession were men of high rank and position, and 

 their office was hereditary. The variety of information 

 contained in these reports is best gathered from the 

 fact that they were sent from cities as far removed 

 from each other as Assur in the north and Erech in the 

 south, and it can only be assumed that they were de- 

 spatched by runners, or men mounted on swift horses. 

 As reports also came from Dilbat, Kutha, Nippur, and 

 Bursippa, all cities of ancient foundation, the king was 

 probably well acquainted with the general course of 

 events in his empire." 12 



From certain passages in the astrological tablets, 

 Thompson draws the interesting conclusion that the 

 Chaldean astronomers were acquainted with some 



