Os Eclipses e as Observações de Gregos e Babilónios: Exemplo Textual

Steele, J. M., 2000, Observations and Predictions of Eclipse Times by Early Astronomers, 95-6. 

There has been much debate over the years concerning the source for the Babylonian observations in he Almagest. As I have suggested above, Ptolemy probably obtained them from Hipparchus. But how did Hipparchus come to possess them? Did he travel to Babylon himself and persuade a Babylonian astronomer to translate the records for him, as has been suggested by Toomer (1988: 359)? Or was knowledge of Babylonian astronomy widespread among Greco-Roman astronomers? Certainly, Babylonian mathematical astronomy must have been known fairly widely. The Oxyrhynchus papyri show that astrologers both used and understood Babylonian ACT methods, and there is nothing to suggest that the Oxyrhynchus material would differ from that which would have been found in any other medium size city had the conditions for survival of papyri been as good. But the transmission of actual observations is a different matter. To be of any value in determining, say, some parameter of a lunar theory, not just any lunar observation will do. Eclipses, of course, are the most useful, but even then what one really needs are eclipses fulfilling tions. Furthermore, these conditions certain condiare in part dependent upon the theory that one is developing. Thus, a Greek astronomer wanting to use Babylonian eclipse observations would probably have to obtain a long run of records, from which he could select certain ones at a later date. 

The Babylonian records described by Ptolemy range in date from 721 BC to 382 Be. Even if these represent the earliest and latest reports available to him, Ptolemy must have had access to records covering a period about 350 years. Furthermore, this list of eclipses must have been fairly complete. It has generally been supposed that the original source for these records was the Babylonian Astronomical Diaries. However, there are good reasons for doubting that this was the direct source from which Hipparchus made his compilation. A typical Diary covers a period of six months, during which there will be one, or occasionally two, lunar eclipse possibilities (i.e., observations or predictions). In compiling a collection spanning 350 years, therefore, one would have to consult about 700 tablets. It seems unlikely that a Babylonian astronomer would read through all of these tablets, even if they were all preserved, and then explain them at the request of a visiting Greek. There is, however, another ready-made source which would have been of much greater use to Hipparchus: the large compilation of eclipse records, preserved in part on LBAT * 1414, LBAT 1415 + 1416 + 1417, and LBAT *1419.

Steele, J. M., 2000, Observations and Predictions of Eclipse Times by Early Astronomers. Dordrecht: Springer Science+Business Media.