Die Venustafeln des Ammi-saduqa und ihre Bedeutung fur die astronomische Datierung der altbabylonischen Zeit.

• Author: de Jong, Teije
• Position: Book review

Die Venustafeln des Ammi-saduga und ihre Bedeutung fur die astronomische Datierung der altbaby-lonischen Zeit. By JOACHIM MEBERT. Archiv fur Orientforschung, Beiheft 31. Vienna: INSTITUT FUR ORIENTALISTIK DER UNIVERSITAT WIEN, 2010. Pp. 179 (paper).

In spite of more than a century of research the absolute chronology of the Old Babylonian period is still problematic, with an uncertainty margin of more than 150 years. Extreme positions are taken by P. J. Huber, A. Sachs, M. Stol, R. M. Whiting, E. Leichty, C. B. E Walker, and G. van Driel, Astronomical Dating of Babylon I and Ur III (Malibu: Undena Publications, 1982: Long Chronology with Ammisaduqa year 1 = -1701 = 1702 B.c.), and by H. Gasche, J. A. Armstrong, S. W. Cole, and V. G. Gurzadyan, Dating the Fall of Babylon: A Reappraisal of the Second-Millennium Chronology (Ghent: University of Ghent, 1998: Ultra-short Chronology with Ammisaduqa 1 = -1549 = 1550 B.c.).

Ever since 1912, when the learned Jesuit Franz Xaver Kugler published his discovery that the year formula for Ammisaduqa year 8 was mentioned in the text of the tenth omen associated with the Venus observations recorded on tablet 63 of the astronomical omen series Enuma Anu Enlil, the Venus observations have played a central role in attempts to date the Old Babylonian dynasty.

Of course, the repeated copying of the text during the centuries elapsed between the original observations and the oldest surviving tablet and the editing of the observations into omina may have led to some corruption of the original observational records. However, it is clear to anyone who has studied the observations in detail that the text contains genuine observational material dating from the Old Babylonian period. In my opinion, the recent warning against the use of the Venus observations for chronological purposes by D. Warburton, "The Fall of Babylon in 1499: Another Update," Akkadica 132 (2011): 1-22, is unfounded. That it nevertheless has its limitations has been expressed repeatedly in the past, as by 0. Neugebauer, "The Chronology of the Hammurabi Age," JAOS 61(1941); 58-61, and will be restated in this review.

In addition to a table of contents, lists of figures, tables, and acronyms, a preface, and an introduction, the monograph under review contains five chapters, a bibliography, and eleven appendices. Quite apart from the merits of the specific chronological proposal developed in chapter III ("Neubewertung der Venustafeln des Ammi-saduqa (EAE 63)"), the other chapters in this monograph present a quite useful overview of methods and data relevant for the chronology of Mesopotamia in the first half of the second millennium B.C. In chapter I ("Quellen zur Chronologie des Zweistromlandes") the Assyrian king lists, eponym lists, and "Distanzangaben," the Babylonian king lists, the astronomical material contained in the omina series Enuma Anu Enlil, and dating based on textually attested month lengths are reviewed.

In chapter II ("Ansatze zur astronomischen Datierung der altbabylonischen Zeit") earlier attempts to date the Old Babylonian period astronomically are briefly summarized. Chapter IV ("Vergleich der Zuordnung Asdq 1 = -1573 mit anderen Quellen") presents a discussion of the implications of the proposed chronology for the seasons of the date and barley harvest in Old Babylonian times, for the Assyrian king lists, and "Distanzangaben"; it further discusses the Tell-Muhammad texts and the Mariand Assur-eclipses and presents a comparison with independent archeological, dendrochronological, and (14) C-radiocarbon dating results.

Chapter V ("Der chronologische Anschluss der Ur III-Zeit") discusses the chronological connection of the Old Babylonian period to the Ur III-period based on month length statistics. In chapter V ("Chronologisches Gesamtgerust fur die 1.Halfte des 2. Jahrtausends") the author presents useful chronological tables covering the period 2036 to 1399...