4,000-year-old tablets reveal ancient omens of death and disaster

For many decades, the British Museum has held tablets that have only recently been deciphered, according to Live Science. Scientists successfully translated 4,000-year-old cuneiform tablets discovered over a century ago in what is now Iraq. The tablets describe how some lunar eclipses were considered omens of death, destruction, and plague.

These tablets are the oldest known examples of lunar eclipse omen compendiums. This information comes from Andrew George, a retired professor from the University of London and independent researcher Junko Taniguchi, in an article published in the "Journal of Cuneiform Studies." The tablet authors used the time of night, shadow movements, and the date and length of the eclipses to make predictions.

One of the omens states that if "an eclipse becomes obscured from its center all at once [and] clear all at once: a king will die, destruction of Elam." Elam, a region in Mesopotamia, is now located in Iran. It was once a feudal state that emerged around 2400 BCE and was a major power in the ancient Middle East for many years.

Another omen states that if the "eclipse begins in the south and suddenly brightens: the downfall of Subartu and Akkad." Subartu was located in the northern part of Mesopotamia, and Akkad was once the capital of the Akkadian Empire during the reign of Sargon the Great, a ruler known for conquering Sumerian city-states in the 24th and 23rd centuries BCE.

Andrew George told Live Science that some of the omens might have their roots in real-life experiences—observations of predictions followed by disaster. However, most of the omens were probably determined by a theoretical system linking eclipse characteristics with various predictions.

In Babylonia and other parts of Mesopotamia, it was believed that events in the sky could predict the future. Rulers would seek the advice of astrologers who monitored the night sky and compared their observations with omen texts. If the prediction was dire, such as "the king will die," additional rituals would be performed, including divination from animal entrails, to determine whether the king was in danger.

If the divination results indicated danger, appropriate rituals were believed to nullify the bad omen and counteract the evil forces behind them. Therefore, despite the bad omens, it was believed that the predicted future could be changed.