16
Hello sasha,
I forgot to mention that the last fragments are from

http://www.aakkl.helsinki.fi/melammu/home/home.php

Take a look at this site. It's very interesting.
Thanks for sharing. I had noticed the site but only used it so far for its excellent bibliography links. They give the direct links to many JSTOR articles on Mesopotamian astrology. I will check the rest out now.

Thanks

Mark
As thou conversest with the heavens, so instruct and inform thy minde according to the image of Divinity William Lilly

17
Hi Sasha, I'd like to add a couple of comments to this discussion. In the first place a third category needs to be added to your list of how colours were used in Mesopotamian astrology:
The colors in Mesopotamian astrology are used in the description of two kinds of phenomenon: 1. optical, linked to the diffusion of the light in the atmosphere; 2. atmospheric, like clouds and precipitations.
3, the 4 'traditional' colours (red, black, green-yellow & white) are used to refer to the presence of different planets.

There are numerous examples of this practice from volumes 8 and 10 of the 'State Archives of Assyria' and the various commentaries on the astrological series 'Enuma Anu Enlil'.

The following illustrative quotes are drawn from a commentary text found in 'Babylonian Planetary Omens part 3' by Erica Reiner & David Pingree 1998 page 59.

10 If Venus wears a black crown - Saturn stands in front of her (in answer to Eddy's previous question)
11 If Venus wears a white crown - Jupiter stands in front of her
12 If Venus wears a green crown - Mars stands in front of her
13 If Venus wears a red crown - Mercury stands in front of her
... 17 If Venus wears two crowns - two planets stand in front of her

These examples should not be regarded as wholly typical (see below) - for instance Saturn and Mercury are both regarded as 'black'. Mars is regarded as having a number of colour effects - it is more often described as having a 'dull' effect on surrounding celestial phenomenon: 'If the Scorpion sets dull-lighted: the food of men will become poor - if Mars stands in it'

Later in the same source (pages 248-9) a variant scheme is given: 'The white star is Jupiter, the red star is Mars, the green star is Venus, the black star is Saturn - variant Mercury'. This scheme seems much commoner, and can be seen to underpin much of the use of colours as codes for the planets found in the interpretation of astrology omens.

There are many more examples of this type of colour-planet code evident in astrology omens. In particular the occurrence of terms like 'black', 'dark-obscure' etc are regularly associated with eclipses. The following examples illustrate this practice:

If the True Shepherd of Anu (Orion) is obscured: there will be an eclipse of the moon and the sun in all lands, cattle....
If the sky above the Wagon (7 principle stars of Ursa Major) is black: there will be an eclipse
This last omen is interpreted by Neo-Assyrian astrologers to mean that 'Mercury stands above Venus' - Mercury as stated above can be called the 'black planet' while Venus is sometimes called the Wagon - this is an example of another very common code-format which substitutes the name of a planet for a constellation.

You are right when you say that the colours have pre-existing associations - the colour red has a much higher proportion of positive meanings attached to it than do the other colours. Very much the same holds true in other branches of Mesopotamian divination. In this respect the colours need to be regarded as 'symbolic' qualities rather than physical descriptions of phenomena.

Hope this is of interest, Gavin