The Reports of the Magicians and Astrologers of Nineveh and Babylon

Abstract

IT is now about thirty-five years ago since the late Edward Hincks, whose name will be honourably coupled with the history of cuneiform decipherment, astonished many folk by declaring that he had discovered in the British Museum tablets which related to the pseudo science of astrological astronomy. And it is not surprising that such a declaration evoked general interest, because reasonable grounds existed for hoping that when the texts on the tablets had been deciphered, some trustworthy information about Chaldean astronomy might be forthcoming. The labours of Hincks were followed by those of Lenormant and Oppert, but they had little result, because neither of these scholars was able to devote sufficient time to the study of original texts in the British Museum. Great impetus was given to the study when the late Sir Henry Rawlinson published the third part of the “Cuneiform Inscriptions,” and Prof. Sayce found therein material for his paper on the “Astronomy and Astrology of the Babylonians,” which appeared in 1873. During the last twenty-five years the astronomy of the Babylonians has been discussed by Strassmaier, Jensen and others, but little has been done for the older, sister subject of astrology. In the two volumes before us Mr. Campbell Thompson gives us the cuneiform text of what is, practically, the complete series of the Astrological Reports of the Royal Library at Nineveh—that is to say, copies of about two hundred and eighty tablets, and transliterations of about two hundred and twenty duplicates, without reckoning the transliterations of the texts of the original series. In addition, we find a translation of the tablets in English, and a vocabulary, with references, and a subject index. The work in each of these sections has been carefully done, and we welome Mr. Thompson in the little band of English Assyriologists, because his pages, somehow, suggest that he intends to try to justify his position as assistant in the British Museum. The study of Biblical parallels and the making of Biblical comparisons are interesting and useful enough in their way, but it is useless to dogmatise about any branch of Assyriology as long as the literature relating to it remains unpublished. Mr. Thompson's book is a good proof of this contention. Many have talked glibly and written vaguely about Chaldean astrologers, but now that we have before us the actual texts of the documents which they drew up, we shall find that most of what has been written on the subject before is incorrect.

The Reports of the Magicians and Astrologers of Nineveh and Babylon.

By R. C. Thompson Vol. i. Pp. xviii + 85 plates of cuneiform text. Vol. ii. Pp. xci + 148. (London: Luzac and Co., 1900.)