Babylonia was the home not only of Mathe- matics (see below) and Astronomy, but of Astrology. This is eloquently witnessed to by the so-called astrological work mentioned above, which bears the special title, n^r Bel, ' illumina- tion of Bel.' The seers (ftarfi) and magicians (ma/i/nt), who are so often mentioned along with the priests, were, above all, ' star-gazers ' and ' prognosticators ' ; cf. Dn 2'-, where already the name Kasdim (Chaldieans) appears as synonymous with magicians. That the ixdyoi. of JNIt 2' were likewise CliaUheans, is plain from various passages of the astrological work, where we read, ' Under such and sucii a constellation a great king shall arise in the land of Martu (Palestine), and peace and joy shall prevail in the land.'
If Bab. Medicine did not reach a level much higher than that of magical formulw,* the ac- qiiaintance of the Babylonians with Mathematics deserves all the fuller recognition. The subject will be best elucidated by a brief survey of the Bab. Metrology, from wliich admittedly all the ancient metrological systems (that of ancient Egypt included) were derived. The latter circum- stance proves indirectly how remote is the anti- (piity to which the beginnings of the system must be carried back, jletrology, moreover, lays the foundation for the material civilisation of a people, as religion does for their spiritual develop- ment. Eor the Babylonians the connecting link between the two was Astronomy.
First, as regards linear measure, we now know from the scale of Gudea (c. B.C. 2000), published in de Sarzec's Di'convertes, that the half-cubit (J great cubit) was divided into lo finger-breadths of lU'ti mm. each. The cubit thus contained 49S mm., and the great cubit (ammatu rahitn) 990 mm. These again were divided respectively into 30 and 00 finger-breadths. Both the small and the great cubit were also divided into six equal parts, tlie former containing 0x5, the latter 0 x 10 finger-breadths. The latter system of division appears, for instance, in the tablet of Senkereh (]\'AI iv.- 37), on the reverse of which are given the squares and cubes of the cubit from the number 1 up to 01), and on the obverse the fractions and multiples of the cubit. We learn that a 'reed' (gi or kanfi) was 0 great cubits ; a gar (written with the sign slia) 12 great cubits ; an risk (stadium) 00 gar or 720 great cubits; a kashu (para.saiig) 30 nsh (c. 21 kiloinet.) ; and a donble-kasbii On nsh. In all pro-, bability there was also a small kasbii, answering to the" small cubit, and containing 10,800 cubits (r,. lOf kilomet.).
Besides its division into sixths, the cubit was divided also into 10 (5) hand-breadths (each of (i finger-breadths). Further, as we learn from the
• Important conclusions can be deduced, however, from tlie liub litenuure. nolablv from the biliiifrnal inapical fonnulie and from the Kpic of Simrod, resrardlni; the nature of certain diseases. For instance, the 'head-disease' so frequently men- tioned, which is accompanied witli violent fever, is erynipelnK ; the symptoms of Gisdubar's illness arc those of turn venerea ; while' the disease of Ea-bani appears to have been leprosy. Tliere Is also frequent mention In the religioaa texts of fever and plague.
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scale of Gudea, the finger-breadth (16-6 mm.) was divided into 180 parts, of wliich, however, the only ones in actual use were the yV (r's°i5). tj (rVa)' i
(,%). i (.'<•;!)' i (iVo), I (rA). and h (t'A)- '^^^ liand-breadth, whose miiiiinuiu was taken at 9n, and maxiniuui at '.''.1-(J mm., served, moreover, as the side uf a cube which contained exactly a ia i; nearly a litre), and which, ichen filled loith icater, weighed a great mina (c. 'MO grammes). In the same way, as is well known, a cubical decimetre {i.e. a litre) of water weighs a kilogramme. In this most ingenious fashion did the Babylonians in that remote anli'iuity derive not only their superficial measures and tlieir nieiisures of capacity, but even their weights from a common standard, the hand- breadth. It is furtlier to be noted that in the latitude of Habylon (Sl° N. lat.) the length of the seconds' pendulum is 992-35 mm., which is almost e.xacilv equal to the length of the Bab. double- cubit (99iJ-yyU mm.).
From their linear measure the Babylonians de- rived also their reckoniiif/ of time. A distance of atiO double-cubits is covered by an average walker in 4 minutes (j!^ of the whole day), a great kasbu (21,000 cubits) in four hours or a night-watch. Thus the kasbtt was used to mark the periods of the day ; /, of a day (2 ho.) being a small, and ,1 a great kaab^t. The reckoning was controlled by the observation that the sun requires exactly 2 minutes (j'j of the double-hour) to traverse a space equal to his apparent diameter. Thus dis- covered, the system of reckoning by 60 (sussu, originally .■ntdsu, i.e. J of .'SCO) was adopted by the Babylonians as the fundamental principle of their whole mctrological system. It was astronomy* then, in conjunction with the linear measures derived from the cubit and the hand-breadth, that gave birth to the famed sexai/esimal system, which spread from Babylon over almost the whole world. \Vitli this goes naturally the division of the circle into 720 (300) degrees ; and the observation that the sixth part of the circumference of a circle is equal to the radius, stands also in the closest relation to the same system. Both the principles referred to were known to the Babylonians from the earliest times.