2001 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
A syuthetic study on the Astronomical Diaries from Babylon
| Project/Area Number |
12610378
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Asian history
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| Research Institution | TOKAI UNIVERSITY |
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Principal Investigator |
HARUTA Seiro School of Letters, Tokai University, Associate Professor, 文学部, 助教授 (90266354)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2000 – 2001
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| Keywords | Mesopotamia / Babylon / Astronomical Reports / Fluctuation of Prices |
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| Research Abstract |
First, the raw date depicted in the Astronomical Diaries from Babyon were picked up. The short term fluctuation of prices, for example, are great; to understand this is necessary to study the long term fluctuation of those.
Second, I graphed the prices of barley, date, mustard, cress, sesame and wool in the Diaries to grasp easily the long term fluctuation. For data like these, too fragmentary and many hiatuses of years, the method below was taken; 1. The "median" value of data in a month represensts the value of the month, when two or more data exists in a month; 2. the median value in a year represents that of the year; and 3. the median value in a decade represents that of the decade. Moreover, the logarithmic scale is used for the y-axis; the method of presentation was seldom used so far in the studies of the Ancient Near Eastern Economy.
Third, a preliminary case study on the relation between fluctuation of prices, weather and the level of the Euphrates, all depicted in the Diaries, was made; in the second half of the 1st century B.C., the period when the prices of commodities raised roughly corresponds the period when the flood revel of the Euphrates was lower, while rainfall seems to have been normal during the period.
Last, a recent hypothesis on "the Last Wedge" presented by Gelller was analyzed critically; his assertion, that the Graeco-Babyloniaca texs were written in the 1st, and even 2nd or 3rd, centuris A.D., do not have grounds; a palaeographical study leads the conclusion that the greek scripts in these texts resembles those in the Avroman Parchments Nos.1 and 2, both written in the 1st century B.C.
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