Keeping watch in Babylon : : the astronomical diaries in context / / edited by Johannes Haubold, John Steele, Kathryn Stevens.

• Superior document: Culture and history of the ancient Near East ; volume 96
• TeilnehmendeR: Haubold, Johannes,; Steele, John M.,; Stevens, Kathryn, 1986-
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, Boston : : Brill,, 2019.
• Year of Publication: 2019
• Language: English
• Series: Culture and History of the Ancient Near East 100.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (323 pages).
• Other title: Front Matter --; Copyright Page --; Tables and Figures --; Abbreviations --; Introduction /; The Early History of the Astronomical Diaries /; Babylonian Market Predictions /; Logging History in Achaemenid, Hellenistic and Parthian Babylonia: Historical Entries in Dated Astronomical Diaries /; Who Wrote the Babylonian Astronomical Diaries? /; The Astronomical Diaries and Religion in Seleucid and Parthian Babylon: the Case of the Prophet of Nanāya /; The Museum Context of the Astronomical Diaries /; From Babylon to Baḫtar: the Geography of the Astronomical Diaries /; Royal Presence in the Astronomical Diaries /; History and Historiography in the Early Parthian Diaries /; The Relationship between Greco-Macedonian Citizens and the “Council of Elders” in the Arsacid Period: New Evidence from Astronomical Diary BM 35269 + 35347 + 35358 /; Back Matter --; Index of Modern Authors.
• ISBN: 9004397760
• Hierarchical level: Monograph
• Statement of Responsibility: edited by Johannes Haubold, John Steele, Kathryn Stevens.

This volume of collected essays, the first of its kind in any language, investigates the Astronomical Diaries from ancient Babylon, a collection of almost 1000 clay tablets which, over a period of some five hundred years (6th century to 1st century BCE), record observations of selected astronomical phenomena as well as the economy and history of Mesopotamia and surrounding regions. The volume asks who the scholars were, what motivated them to ‘keep watch in Babylon’ and how their approach changed in the course of the collection’s long history. Contributors come from a range of disciplinary backgrounds, including Assyriology, Classics, ancient history, the history of science and the history of religion.