Green, T. M., 1992, The City of the Moon God: Religious Traditions of Harran, 42-3.
Although there are records of observation of the appearance and disappearance of the planet Venus as early as the seventeenth century B.C.E. (during the reign of Ammisaduqa at Babylon), prior to the eighth century B.C.E., the only clearly demonstrable scientific interest in charting the "wandering stars" is found focused on the moon and the sun; and, in fact, it was only beginning with the reign of Nabonassar (747 B.C.E.) that accurate records of eclipses were kept and that the reports of the court astronomers were regularly recorded. Certainly the importance of the moon in the interpretation of various celestial omina (including the meteorological) had developed quite early in Mesopotamia, but by the very nature of the lunar cycle, these forecasts could not be long-range.
In any event, divination through celestial phenomena was just one aspect of prophecy; much more popular during the Babylonian and Assyrian periods were incubation and haruspicy. Even that royal champion of the Moon god, the sixth century B.C.E. Nabonidus, was commanded to restore the temple of the Moon god at Harran through a dream. Further support for this view is found in the seventh century B.C .E. copies of the collection of celestial omens known as the Enuma Anu Enlil, which is dated in its earliest form to around 1000 B.C .E., and probably contains even earlier material. Most of its contents may be considered to be descriptive rather than analytical; only one quarter of the omens may be regarded as ''astrological,'' i.e., specifically concerned with the stars and planets. Yet, within two hundred years of Nabonassar, a shift in interest may be observed, for a cuneiform tablet dated 523 B.C. E. indicates the ability to calculate the monthly ephemerides of the sun and moon, the conjunctions of the moon with the planets, and of the planets with each other, and eclipses.
Despite these relatively rapid advances, however, Neugebauer has posited a date no earlier than the fifth century B.C. E. for theregularization of the solar-lunar intercalated calendar, which knowledge would be necessary for the development of a genethialogical astrology. It was Naburimanni, a "descendant of the priest of the Moon god," who early in that century devised the lunar computational tables, used to determine the true date of the full moon, by which at least lunar eclipses might be predicted. It has been suggested that the growing interest in the astral deities and astral prophecy in the Near East during this period was a direct consequence of the conquest of Mesopotamia by the Persians, whose own religion contained many astral elements.
Green, T. M., 1992, The City of the Moon God: Religious Traditions of Harran. Leiden/ Nova Iorque/ Köln: E. J. Brill.
