Evidence of celestial phenomena in Urartian cuneiform texts?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32028/ajnes.v13i1.952Keywords:
Urartian cuneiform texts, god Ḫaldi, (D)iniriaše, iconography, astral phenomena, cometAbstract
Unlike the ancient Mesopotamian cuneiform sources, there is no direct evidence of keeping records of celestial objects or astronomical phenomena in the corpus of the Urartian cuneiform texts. In spite of this, astral scenes are widely represented in religious symbolism and iconography of Urartian bronze art. An exceptional evidence of an Urartian cuneiform text could fill the lack of information, perhaps, pointing out the apparition of a comet.
References
Baker, H., Kaniuth, K., Otto, A. (eds) 2012. Stories of Long Ago. Festschrift für Michael D. Roaf (AOAT 397). Münster.
Barrett, A.A. 1978. Observations of Comets in Greek and Roman Sources Before AD 410. JRASC 72/2, 81-106.
Barseghian, A.Zh. and R.A. Epremian 1989. Kоmeta Galleja so svedeniem armjanskix rukopisej (The Observations of the Halley’s Comet according to Armenian Medieval Sources). Reports of Byurakan Observatory 61: 154-158 (in Russian).
Barseghian, A.Zh., Yepremyan, R.A., Parsamyan, E.S. 2003. Novye svidetel’stva nabljudenij komet v armjanskix rukopisjax (New Evidences of Observations of Comets in Armenian Medieval Sources). NAS RA Reports 103/2: 126-130 (in Russian).
Belli, O. 1999. The Anzaf Fortress and the Gods of Urartu. İstanbul.
Biggs, R.D. 1967. More Babylonian ‘Prophecies’. Iraq 29/2: 117-132.
Bjorkman, J.K. 1973. Meteors and Meteorites in the Ancient Near East. Meteoritics 8/2: 91-132.
Black, J., Green, A. 1992. Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia. An Illustrated Dictionary. Austin.
Börker-Klähn, J. 1982. Altvorderasiatische Bildstelen und vergleichbare Felsreliefs (BF 4). Mainz am Rhein.
Born, H., Seidl, U. 1995. Schutzwaffen aus Assyrien und Urartu (Sammlung Axel Guttmann IV). Mainz am Rhein.
Brady, J.L. 1982. Halley’s Comet: AD 1986 to 2647 BC. JBAA 92/5: 209-215.
Brisch, N. (ed.) 2008. Religion and Power. Divine Kingship in the Ancient World and Beyond (OIS 4). Chicago, Illinois.
Brutyan, G.H. 1988. Upominanie dvux komet VI i VII vekov v armjanskom letopisanii (The Mention of Two Comets in Armenian Chronicles of the VI and VII centuries AD). Reports of Byurakan Observatory 60: 138-144 (in Russian).
Chadwick, R. 1993. Identifying Comets and Meteors in Celestial Observation Literature, in: Galter 1993: 161-184.
Çilingiroğlu, A., Matthews, R.J. (eds) 1999. Anatolian Iron Ages 4. Proceedings of the Forth Anatolian Iron Ages Colloquium held at Mersin, 19-23 May 1997 (AnSt 49). London.
Çilingiroğlu, A., Salvini, M. 1999. When was the Castle of Ayanis Built and What is the Meaning of the Word ‘šuri’?, in: Çilingiroğlu, Matthews 1999: 55-60.
Dalley, S. 1986. The God Ṣalmu and the Winged Disk. Iraq 48. 85-101.
Ehrenberg, E. 2008. Dieu et Mon Droit: Kingship in Late Babylonian and Early Persian Times, in: Brisch 2008: 103-132.
Eichler, S. 1984. Götter, Genien und Mischwesen in der urartaischen Kunst (AMI Erg. 12). Berlin.
Etz, D.V. 1986. Is Isaiah XIV 12-15 a Reference to Comet Halley?. VT 36/3: 289-301.
Frankfort, H. 1939. Cylinder Seals. A Documentary Essay on the Art and Religion of the Ancient Near East. London.
Fuchs, A. 2012. Urarṭu in der Zeit, in: Kroll et al. 2012: 135-161.
Galea, A. 2009. Comet Halley in 1910, as Viewed from a Maltese Perspective. Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage 12/2: 167-170.
Galter, H. (ed.) 1993. Die Rolle der Astronomie in den Kulturen Mesopotamiens. Graz.
Gardner, S.L. 2002. The Sun, Moon and Stars of the Southern Levant at Gezer and Megiddo: Cultural Astronomy in Chalcolithic/Early and Middle Bronze Ages, Unpublished PhD Dissertation, University of Arizona.
Graham, D.W., Hintz, E. 2010. An Ancient Greek Sighting of Halley’s Comet?. Journal of Cosmology 9: 2130-2136.
Grekyan, Y.H. 2015a. The Regnal Years of the Urartian Kings Argišti Menuaḫi and Sarduri Argištiḫi. AJNES 9/1: 91-124.
Grekyan, Y.H. 2015b. The Gods Aššur and Ḫaldi in the Mountains / Dağlık Bölgenin Tanrıları: Haldi ve Assur, in: Işıklı, Can 2015: 388-402.
Gurzadyan, V.G. 1988a. Halley 684 Viewed from Armenia. The Observatory 108 (1988 August): 127.
Gurzadyan, V.G. 1988b. Was Comet Halley Seen in Armenia in 1066?. QJRAS 29: 275-276.
Gurzadyan, V.G., Vardanyan, R. 2004. Halley’s Comet of 87 BC on the Coins of Armenian King Tigranes?. Astronomy & Geophysycs 45/4, 4.6.
Hakobyan, V.A. 1956. Manr žamanakagrut‘yunner, XIII-XVIII dd., hator II (Small Chronicles, XIII-XVIII cc., vol. II). Yerevan (in Armenian).
Harutyunyan (Arutjunjan), N.V. 2001. Korpus urartskix klinoobraznyx nadpisej (Corpus of the Urartian Cuneiform Inscriptions). Yerevan (in Russian).
Hmayakyan, S.G. 2005. Urartakan voske, arcat‘voske ev voske t‘it‘ełapat medalionnerə (The Urartian Gold, Electrum and Gold Coated Medallions). Annual of the Yerevan Academy of Fine Arts 2005: 5-15 (in Armenian).
Hmayakyan, S.G. 2006. Ēpikakan mi kerpar vantospyan arvestum (An Epic Figure in the Vantospian Art). Annual of the Yerevan Academy of Fine Arts 2006. 10-16 (in Armenian).
Holloway, S.W. 2002. Aššur is King! Aššur is King! Religion in the Exercise of Power in the Neo-Assyrian Empire (CHANE 10). Leiden – Boston – Köln.
Hughes, D.W. 1987. The History of Halley’s Comet. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series A: Mathematical and Physical Sciences 323 (1572): 349-367.
Humphreys, C.J. 1992. The Star of Bethlehem, A Comet in 5 BC and the Date of Christ’s Birth. Tyndale Bulletin 43/1: 31-56.
Humphreys, C.J. 1993. The Star of Bethlehem. Science and Christian Belief 5/2: 83-101.
Işıklı, M., Can, B. (eds) 2015. International Symposium on East Anatolia – South Caucasus Cultures, vols. I-II. Cambridge.
Jenkins, R.M. 2004. The Star of Bethlehem and the Comet of AD 66. JBAA 114/6: 336-343.
Karakhanian, A., Abgaryan, Y. 2004. Evidence of Historical Seismicity and Volcanism in the Armenian Highland (from Armenian and Other Sources). Annals of Geophysics 74.2/3: 793-810.
Kelley, D.H., Milone, E.F. 2005. Exploring Ancient Skies. An Encyclopedic Survey of Archaeoastronomy. Springer.
Kokkinos, N. 1989. Crucifixion in AD 36: The Keysone for Dating the Birth of Jesus, in: Vardaman, Yamauchi 1989: 133-163.
Kroll, S., Gruber, C., Hellwag, U., Roaf, M., Zimansky, P. (eds) 2012. Biainili-Urartu. The Proceedings of the Symposium held in Munich 12-14 October 2007 (AI 51). Leuven.
Kronk, G.W. 1999. Cometography. A Catalogue of Comets, vol. 1: Ancient-1799. Cambridge.
Lambert, W.G. 1985. Trees, Snakes and Gods in Ancient Syria and Anatolia. BSOAS 48/3: 435-451.
Melikishvili, G. 1954. Drevnevostočnye materialy po istorii narodov Zakavkaz’ja I. Nairi-Urartu. Tbilisi (in Russian).
Movsisyan, A.Y. 1998. Vani t‘agavorut‘yan (Biaynili, Urartu, Ararat) mehenagrut‘yunə (The Hieroglyphic Script of Van Kingdom). Yerevan (in Armenian).
Olson, J.M.R. 1979. Giotto’s Portrait of Halley’s Comet. Scientific American 240/5: 160-170.
Ornan, T. 2005a. The Triumph of the Symbol: Pictorial representation of Deities in Mesopotamia and the Biblical Image Ban (OBO 213). Fribourg – Göttingen.
Ornan, T. 2005b. A Complex System of Religious Symbolism: The Case of the Winged Disc in Near Eastern Imagery of the First Millennium BCE, in: Suter, Uehlinger 2005: 207-241.
Radner, K. 2012. Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Muṣaṣir, Kumme, Ukku and Šubria – the Buffer States between Assyria and Urarṭu, in Kroll et al. 2012: 243-264.
Ramsey, J.T. 2007. A Catalogue of Greco-Roman Comets from 500 BC to AD 400. JHA 38/2 (131): 175-197.
Reade, J.E. 1977. Shikaft-i Gulgul: Its Date and Symbolism. IA 12: 33-44.
Roaf, M. 2012. Towers with Plants or Spears on Altars: Some Thoughts on an Urartian Motif, in: Kroll et al. 2012: 351-372.
Salvini, M. 1991. Una nuova iscrizione urartea. Or.NS 60/4: 344 346.
Salvini, M. 1995. Geschichte und Kultur der Urartäer. Darmstadt.
Salvini, M. 2008. Corpus dei testi urartei, vol. I. Le iscrizioni su pietra e roccia: I Testi (DocAs 8/1). Roma.
Salvini, M. 2018. Ḫaldi. Staatsgott von Urartu. RlA 15.7/8: 378-380.
Salvini, M., Wegner, I. 2014. Einführung in die urartäische Sprache. Wiesbaden.
Seargent, D. 2009. The Greatest Comets in History: Broom Stars and Celestial Scimitars. Berlin – Heidelberg – New York.
Seidl, U. 2004. Bronzekunst Urartus. Mainz am Rhein.
Sitarski, G. 1988. On the Nongravitational Motion of Comet P/Halley. Acta Astronomica 38/3: 253-268.
Stephenson, R., Yau, K. 1984. Oriental Tales of Halley’s Comet. New Scientist 103 (1423), September: 30-32.
Stephenson, F.R., Yau, K.K.C., Hunger, H. 1985. Records of Halley’s Comet on Babylonian Tablets. Nature 314: 587-592.
Suter, C.E., Uehlinger, Ch. (eds) 2005. Crafts and Images in Contact. Studies on Eastern Mediterranean Art of the First Millennium BCE (OBO 210). Fribourg – Göttingen.
Thompson, J.R. 2013. Terror of the Radiance. Aššur Covenant to YHWH Covenant (OBO 258). Göttingen.
Vanden Berghe, L., De Meyer, L. 1982. Urartu: een vergeten cultuur uit het bergland Armenië (Katalog der Ausstellung Gent 27). Gent.
Vardaman, J., Yamauchi, E.M. (eds) 1989. Chronos, Kairos, Christos. Nativity and Chronological Studies Presented to Jack Finegan. Winona Lake.
Ward, W.H. 1910. The Seal Cylinders of Western Asia. Washington D.C.
Xu, Zh., Pankenier, D.W., Jiang, Y. 2000. East Asian Archaeoastronomy. Historical Records of Astronomical Observations of China, Japan and Korea. Amsterdam.
Yeomans, D.K., Kiang, T. 1981. The Long-Term Motion of Comet Halley. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 197: 633-646.
Yeomans, D.K., Rahe, J., Freitag, R.S. 1986. The History of Comet Halley. JRASC 80/2: 62-86.
Zimansky P.E. 2012a. Urartu as Empire: Cultural Integration in the Kingdom of Van, in: Kroll et al. 2012: 101-110.
Zimansky, P.E. 2012b. Imagining Haldi, in: Baker et al. 2012: 713-723.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
