Jan. 14] SOCIETYOF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY. [189a
elsewhere* observed, these " Divinities of the Council " are the
thirtystars of the Tablet. (2) A northern portion, occupiedby
twelvestarscalledby Diodoros 'dicasts';and (3) a southern portion,
alsooccupiedby twelve starssimilarlynamed. " And theysay that
the chiefs of the Divinities [of the Council] are twelve in number,
to each of whom theyassigna month and one of the twelve signsof
the Zodiac." Herewe see a combination andharmonizationof two
distinctsystems,solarand lunar,andalso,apparently,Semiticand
Sumero-Akkadian. For in the Semitic CreationLegend,TabletV,
we read (ap. Sayce):—- " He ordained the year, appointingthe signs of the Zodiac
(Mizrata= Mazzaroth,Job xxxviii, 32) over it ; - For each of the twelve monthshe fixed threestars."
Herewe have no mention of thirty, but twelve central,stars(or
Signs),flanked by their paranatellons, northernand southern,the
twenty-four "Judges"of Diodoros. Again, in W.A.I. IV, 15, we
read(ap. Sayce) of certain spirits:—
Ak." In the watch of the Thirty (stars)was their office."
As. " In the Signs of the Zodiac was their office."
So that the sphere of the Thirty Starswas equivalent to that of the
twelveSigns,andthe former conceptwas rather Sumero-Akkadian,
the later Semitic. In a combination of the two divisionsand sys
tems,twelveof the thirty necessarilybecame'chiefs.'
Althoughthe number thirty,as that of the days of the month, is
connectedwiththe Moon and the lunar monthof twenty-nine days,
thirteenhours,yet these thirtystarsdo not, strictlyspeaking,repre
sentthe lunar mansions; for they only markthe moon-stations in a
very vaguelyapproximate manner. Thus, in the Arabian lunar
mansions,whichare accuratelymappedout, and named withreference
to the Zodiacal Signs,the twenty-first moon-station,Al Beldah ("A
district''), represents no particular star or stars, but an apparently
starlessspacein the Archer.
Dil^an(Capella)is not included amongstthe Thirty, but appears
in Part II of the Tablet, nextto Kaksidi, whichI was inclinedto
identifywithSpica,but the balance of authority regardsit as being
Sirius,and its non-appearance amongstthe Thirty, givesadditional
weightto this opinion. Sibzianna(Arcturus)does not appear in
* The Babylonian Zodiac( The Academy, Jan.29th,1887).
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