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The Gates Cosmology of the Astronomical Book of Enoch
Abstract and Figures
This paper finds a parallel to the division of each Babylonian zodiacal sign into 30 degrees in the Enochic cosmology. In particular a new explanation of the rare Aramaic word חרתיה in 4Q209 (4Q209 7iii 1-2, 6) from the Aramaic Astronomical Book is offered as describing heavenly openings on the horizon for the daily rising and setting of the sun. These openings were smaller parts of each one of the twelve gates compared previously by scholars to the zodiacal signs. It seems plausible that the description of the daily openings appeared four times in the account of every year at the end of each season. The addition of these four days can be seen as part of the author’s polemic against the Mesopotamian 360-day year. An implication of the repetition of the sentence in 4Q209 8 3-4 is that this scroll was probably longer than previously assumed and included a triennial cycle synchronizing lunar and solar years.
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... However, our tablet does not allow us to answer what may ultimately be the 'chicken and egg' question: Did a recognition of arcs along the horizon prompt the invention of the zodiac, or were the arcs themselves actually at first simply projections of the rising and setting of zodiacal signs (Ben-Dov 2008, pp. 185-189;Ratzon 2014Ratzon , 2015aJacobus 2014a)? 5 A similar horizontal system that describes the sun's yearly motion through dividing the horizon into six arcs in the east and six arcs in the west is also known from the Astronomical Book of Enoch. The AB refers to these arcs as gates through which the sun exits and enters when it rises and sets (see below 4, Fig. 4). ...
... However, both the Aramaic (72)(73)(74)(75) and the Ethiopic versions occasionally address spatial aspects, like the positions of the rising and setting of the moon in relation to the horizon. 27 The sun and moon rise and set through gates, openings in the firmament, that stand on the edges of the earth and are used for the passage of astronomical and meteorological phenomena from heaven to earth and back (Ratzon 2012(Ratzon , 2014(Ratzon , 2015a(Ratzon , 2017. Heavenly gates are also known from Babylonian literature (Heimpel 1986;Horowitz 2011, 266-267). ...
... 267-268) line 16.25 The terminus ante quem is determined according to the Dead Sea Scroll 4Q208, the earliest copy of the AB that was transcribed at the end of the third-century or beginning of the second-century BCE. For a summary of the debate on the paleographical and C14 dating of this scroll, seeRatzon (2015a). The terminus post quem relies on the AAB's knowledge of the zodiac. ...
BM 76829, a fragment from the mid-section of a small tablet from Sippar in Late Babylonian script, preserves what remains of two new unparalleled pieces from the cuneiform astronomical repertoire relating to the zodiac. The text on the obverse assigns numerical values to sectors assigned to zodiacal signs, while the text on the reverse seems to relate zodiacal signs with specific days or intervals of days. The system used on the obverse also presents a new way of representing the concept of numerical 'zero' in cuneiform, and for the first time in cuneiform, a system for dividing the horizon into six arcs in the east and six arcs in the west akin to that used in the Astronomical Book of Enoch. Both the obverse and the reverse may describe the periodical courses of the sun and moon, in a similar way to what is found in astronomical texts from Qumran, thus adding to our knowledge of the scientific relationship between the two cultures.
... There is no description of the movement of the sun and moon during the day and night, and the text refers only to the rising and setting points of the sun and moon on the horizon. The horizontal coordinate system used throughout the AB is a gates system: The gates are openings in the firmament that stand on the edges of the earth and are used for the passage of astronomical and meteorological phenomena from heaven to earth and back (Ratzon 2012, 272-276;Ratzon 2014;Ratzon 2015a). Despite the occasional references in the Aramaic scrolls of the AB to the passage of the moon through the gates, most scholars claim that the scrolls are too fragmented to deduce the full gates theory from them (Milik 1976, 273;Tigchelaar and García Martínez 2000b, 100-102;Ben Dov 2008, 78-80;Nickelsburg and VanderKam 2012, 442-444;Drawnel 2011). ...
... However, Ben Dov ignores the fact that the gap between the lunar and solar calendars increased throughout the year, even during the first few months, because lunar months are frequently shorter than solar months. I claim that the entire triennial cycle was detailed in the Synchronistic Calendar of 4Q209 (Ratzon 2015a It seems that the late Ethiopic text does not represent the original Enochic astronomy. 23 Instead, I believe we should begin with the data found in the scroll, which, while very fragmented, still provides enough evidence to reconstruct the entire lunar theory. ...
... The terminus ante quem is determined according to the Dead Sea Scroll 4Q208, the earliest copy of the AB that was transcribed at the end of the third century or beginning of the second century BCE. For a summary of the debate on the paleographical and C14 dating of this scroll, see Ratzon 2015a, 94-95, n. 3. The terminus post quem relies on derivations of Mesopotamian astronomical terms, developed only during the fifth century BCE(Drawnel 2011, 307-310; Brack-Bernsen and Hunger 1999, 292, n. 4; Ben Dov 2008, 185-189;Ratzon 2014;Ratzon 2015a;Jacobus 2014b).3 In addition to the studies mentioned above in note 2, relations between Enochic and earlier Mesopotamian astronomy were studied intensively (for a summary of these studies, seeVanderKam 2008, and Ratzon 2012, 299-301). ...
Argument
The Astronomical Book of Enoch describes the passage of the moon through the gates of heaven, which stand at the edges of the earth. In doing so, the book describes the position of the rising and setting of the moon on the horizon. Otto Neugebauer, the historian of ancient science, suggested using the detailed tables found in later Ethiopic texts in order to reconstruct the path of the moon through the gates. This paper offers a new examination of earlier versions of the Astronomical Book, using a mathematical analysis of the figures and astronomical theories presented throughout the Aramaic Astronomical Book; the results fit both the data preserved in the scrolls and the mathematical approach and religious ideology of the scroll's authors better than the details found in the late Ethiopic texts. Among other new insights, this alternate theory also teaches about the process of the composition of the Astronomical Book in the first centuries of its composition.
Enochic cosmology is often regarded as bewildering and unrelated to reality. The article explores the main features of the ancient Hebrew universe showing that the prophet's revelation was accurate; it is concluded that the heliocentric model is false.
The article contains elementary information concerning the manuscripts of 1 Enoch, their editions, and scientific literature that deals with the topic. The presentation begins with the list of larger bibliographic collections concerning the Enochic writings, then the Aramaic witnesses preserved in 11 manuscripts found in Qumran Cave 4 are shortly discussed and pertinent information concerning their edition is given. The rest of the study adduces basic details about the manuscripts that contain the translation of the original Aramaic and the history of their publication. By offering a general perspective on the manuscripts of 1 Enoch, with special attention focused on Aramaic evidence, the article leads the reader through the textually and linguistically complicated history of text transmission of this important Jewish composition
In the 21st issue of Dead Sea Discoveries, Dennis Duke and Matthew Goff offered their collaboration as physicist and Dead Sea Scrolls scholar in order to study the lunar theory of the Aramaic Astronomical Book (aab). They use the astronomical model of lunar elongation—the angular distance between the moon and the sun on the observed heavenly sphere—to compute the times of the moon’s visibility and invisibility. They conclude that the times written on the Aramaic fragments are closer to reality than the times written in the Babylonian sources of the aab. This paper concludes that lunar elongation is not the best explanation of the astronomical data of the aab, and Duke and Goff’s computations should be refined according to some astronomical, cosmological, textual, and historical considerations.
We report on new 14C measurements of samples of 18 texts (scrolls) and 2 linen fragments from Qumran Caves 1, 2, and 4 and from Na al ever, both in the Dead Sea region. The radiocarbon results are in good agreement with estimates of age based on paleography.
This article considers the place of scientific inquiry in ancient Judaism with a focus on astronomy and cosmology. It explores how ancient Jews used biblical interpretation to situate "scientific" knowledge in relation to "religious" concerns. In the Second Temple period (538 B.C.E.-70 C.E.) biblical interpretation is often used to integrate insights from Mesopotamian and Greek scientific traditions. In classical rabbinic Judaism (70-600 C.E.) astronomy became marked as an esoteric discipline, and cosmology is understood in terms of Ma'aseh Bereshit, a category that blurs the boundaries between "science" and "religion." Whereas modern thinkers often see Judaism and "science" as incompatible, medieval Jewish thinkers built on these ancient traditions; some even viewed themselves as heirs to a Jewish intellectual tradition that included astronomy, cosmology, medicine and mathematics.
The paper "The effects of possible contamination on the radiocarbon dates of the Dead Sea Scrolls I: castor oil" by Rasmussen et al. (2001) is discussed. Detailed analysis of the extant dates of the Dead Sea Scrolls suggests that the pre- treatment of the samples was adequate. Errors and omissions in the paper are discussed and the implications of the experiment of Rasmussen et al. (2001) are questioned.
Carmi (2002) is a response to our study published inRadiocarbon 43(l) by Rasmussen et al. (2001). We noted widespread possible exposure to castor oil of the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) in the Rockefeller Museum in the 1950s and reported experiments showing that the AAA pretreatment used in the first 2 series of radiocarbon datings of the DSS (Bonani et al. [1992] and Jull et al. [1995]), "cannot be guaranteed to have removed all of the modem carbon in any samples if they had been contaminated with castor oil and hence could have produced some C-14 dates that were younger than the texts' true ages." Carmi, a coauthor of the Bonani et al. (1992) study, criticizes our analysis on 4 grounds: 1. Carmi argues that "the extant [radiocarbon] dates of the Dead Sea Scrolls do not suggest a major deviation from their palaeographic or specific ages. There is thus no indication that the pretreatment was inadequate." 2. Carmi claims that our study, Rasmussen et al. (2001), "miscalculated the efficiency of their AAA treatment from the C-14 data," and Carmi presents an alternative formula for calculation of the cleaning efficiency. 3. Carmi says the efficiency of the cleaning procedure of our experiments should have been calculated based on "the delta(13)C values of the samples," and that when this is done, a dramatically different result is obtained. 4. Carmi claims that our "strategy of testing the validity of the dates of the Dead Sea Scrolls is wrong." We believe that Carmi's response fundamentally misunderstands our paper and is in error on each of the 4 points.