bagdemagus: Cuneiform tablet with incised drawing of constellations: the Lion (Leo) and the Dragon (

bagdemagus:

Cuneiform tablet with incised drawing of constellations: the Lion (Leo) and the Dragon (Draco)

Uruk (Warka), Seleucid period, 2nd century BCE

Mesopotamian astral science and astrological divination saw major developments in the 6th century BCE with the canonization of the zodiacal signs. Instructions for how to draw constellations exist from as early the Neo-Assyrian period (8th-7th century BCE). From the era of Hellenistic Greek occupation of Babylonia comes this fragment of a tablet (another fragment depicting the tail of the dragon and the constellation Virgo is in the Louvre), an early piece of scientific illustration, with the constellation names labeled in cuneiform Akkadian.

Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin (VAT 07847)