Book Review: Moving beyond ‘Act’, Babylonian Mathematical Astronomy: Procedure Texts

Abstract

MOVING BEYOND 'ACT' Babylonian Mathematical Astronomy: Procedure Texts. Mathieu Ossendrijver (Springer, New York, 2012). Pp. xxvi + 615. euro118. ISBN 978-1-4614-3781-9.The study of Babylonian mathematical astronomy has since the mid-1950s been founded on Otto Neugebauer's monumental publication Astronomical cuneiform texts (generally referred to as 'ACT'). In ACT Neugebauer edited and discussed all of the then known Babylonian tablets containing mathematical astronomy. These texts fall into two main categories: tabular texts, which contain calculated data for the Moon or a planet, and procedure texts, which contain instructions for calculating the data in the tables. In the years since the publication of ACT there has been a trickle of publications containing further texts, principally by Asger Aaboe, John Britton, Hermann Hunger and myself. It is only in the past ten years, however, that a comprehensive reassessment of the Babylonian mathematical astronomical texts has been undertaken through the work of Mathieu Ossendrivjer. The volume under review deals with the procedure texts and represents the first half of Ossendrijver's project. A planned second volume will deal with the tabular texts.Ossendrijver's book contains a comprehensive study of the procedure texts. In addition to editions and detailed commentaries for each text, Ossendrijver provides a long introduction discussing the provenance and archival context of the tablets, their physical characteristics and layout, the terminology and mathematical methods employed in the texts, and detailed analysis of the various Babylonian lunar and planetary theories. The volume concludes with a glossary, indexes and high-quality colour photographs of all the tablets.The centrepiece of the book is the editions of slightly more than one hundred procedure texts. Among these texts are many new fragments that have been identified by Ossendrijver. Some of these new fragments join tablets that previously were known, but a significant number represent new sources that attest to previously unknown aspects of Babylonian mathematical astronomy. The editions themselves are accurate and easy to follow with facing transliterations and translations, critical and philological notes (these are especially useful in providing explanations where there are improvements in the readings and interpretations over earlier editions), and detailed astronomical commentaries. The translations strike just the right balance between clarity and literalness. Crucially, Ossendrijver's translations preserve the subtle distinctions between the formulations of related mathematical operations in a way that many earlier translations failed to do. …