Almanac W22340a from Uruk: the Latest Datable Cuneiform Tablet

Authors
Publication date 2014
Journal Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie
Volume | Issue number 104 | 2
Pages (from-to) 182-194
Organisations
  • Faculty of Science (FNWI) - Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy (API)
Abstract In this article we present a transliteration and translation of Tablet W22340a, an astronomical Almanac from Uruk. Based on the astronomical predictions in the text we suggest that it must be dated to the year 326 in the Arsacid Era, equivalent to 79/80 AD. This makes W22340a the latest datable cuneiform text uncovered so far. This dating confirms that cuneiform writing and astronomical scholarship persisted in Mesopotamia during the Arsacid period far into the first century AD, not only in Babylon but in Uruk as well.
Document type Article
Language English
Published at https://doi.org/10.1515/za-2014-0015
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