Book contents
- Mathematical Commentaries in the Ancient World
- Mathematical Commentaries in the Ancient World
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Introduction
- Commentators at Work
- Comparing Commentaries
- 5 Astral Commentaries within the Mesopotamian Received Tradition
- 6 Contrasting Commentaries and Contrasting Subcommentaries on Mathematical and Confucian Canons
- Index of Proper Names
- Index of Subjects
- Index of Titles of Cited Texts
- References
5 - Astral Commentaries within the Mesopotamian Received Tradition
The Commentary to Enūma Anu Enlil 14 and Šumma Sîn ina Tāmartišu
from Comparing Commentaries
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 June 2022
Book contents
- Mathematical Commentaries in the Ancient World
- Mathematical Commentaries in the Ancient World
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Introduction
- Commentators at Work
- Comparing Commentaries
- 5 Astral Commentaries within the Mesopotamian Received Tradition
- 6 Contrasting Commentaries and Contrasting Subcommentaries on Mathematical and Confucian Canons
- Index of Proper Names
- Index of Subjects
- Index of Titles of Cited Texts
- References
Summary
While scholars have outlined the general characteristics of ancient Mesopotamian commentaries from the first millennium BCE, much work remains to be done in examining the outliers among these compositions and what they can tell us about this important tradition. In an effort to better understand these outliers, we consider two of the few Mesopotamian commentaries that are extant in multiple copies. Focusing on celestial-divinatory commentaries, which are the best attested genre of commentary in Assyria and Babylonia, this chapter begins by introducing celestial-divinatory commentaries and the source text upon which most seem to comment, the omen series Enuma Anu Enlil (“When (the Gods) Anu, Enlil, (and Ea)”). The bulk of this contribution then considers the commentary on Tablet 14 of Enuma Anu Enlil and the exegetical series Šumma Sîn ina Tamartišu (“If the Moon at Its Appearance”), which are both atypical celestial-divinatory commentaries extant in multiple copies. We ask how the commentary on Enuma Anu Enlil 14 and Šumma Sîn ina Tamartišu interpret and relate to their source texts, how copies of these compositions are associated with one another, why these exegetical texts may have been copied in the first place, and how they may have been used in antiquity. Our analysis illuminates important, understudied aspects of both of these compositions while noting how the features therein should alter our conception of Mesopotamian commentaries on the whole.
Keywords
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- Chapter
- Information
- Mathematical Commentaries in the Ancient WorldA Global Perspective, pp. 199 - 277Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022
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