Neo-Assyrian Astronomical Terminology in the Babylonian Talmud (Report‪)‬

It is an ongoing scholarly endeavor to detect the afterlife of ancient Mesopotamian traditions in the late antique literature of Syria and Mesopotamia. (1) Local Mesopotamian traditions did not cease with the demise of the cuneiform culture but rather persisted into the Aramaic-speaking cultures that flourished in Mesopotamia subsequently. Special significance should be given to those cases where an Akkadian term is reduplicated in Aramaic usage--either as a loanword or as a translated cognate--thereby attesting more clearly to the cultural continuation. This short note highlights one such case in which, albeit not without difficulties, the technical vocabulary of cuneiform scientists is adopted by a Jewish sage of the late third to early fourth century C.E. It also supplements the discussion by Wacholder and Weisberg, (2) who reflected on the similar methods of proclaiming the new moon in ancient Mesopotamia and in the rabbinic tradition. While these two authors claimed quite specifically that the Jewish calendrical tradition is dependent upon its Mesopotamian roots, their argument proves little more than generic similarity of an observation-based lunar calendar. In the text discussed here, however, the case for direct continuity is clearer, due to the use of a technical term and to the fact that the Jewish sage in question lived on Mesopotamian soil.