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Weather Prediction in Babylonia

  • Mathieu Ossendrijver EMAIL logo
Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 5. November 2020
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Abstract

This paper addresses developments in the prediction of weather phenomena in Late Babylonian scholarly texts. Previously published and unpublished texts are analyzed and the underlying methods are compared with omen-based weather prognostication, developments in Babylonian astronomical prediction and reporting practices in the astronomical diaries. It is found that some texts combine long-term astronomical prediction with inferential methods for predicting weather phenomena. It is argued that these new methods for predicting weather phenomena are part of a larger Babylonian effort to predict and explain non-astronomical phenomena by relating them to predictable astronomical phenomena.


Corresponding author: Mathieu Ossendrijver, Einstein Center Chronoi, Berlin, Germany, E-mail:

Funding source: Einstein Stiftung Berlin

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Published Online: 2020-11-05
Published in Print: 2021-06-25

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