Venus Tablets

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Just wanted to share a very good thesis (PDF format) regarding the Venus Tablets, for those who may be interested.

The thesis, is more about the actual transmission of cuniform texts and the errors in transliterations. The discussion and actual comparisons regarding the Venus Tablets starts around page 60 of the PDF.

The 20 tablets are the copies of the actual Venus Tablets surmised to be written anywhere from 1700 BC to 1500 BC. The copies are dated to around 700 BC

The thesis deals with the many errors and differences in the copying of the same tablet, for various reasons.

This is exactly what I wonder in reading the ancient astrological texts, that have been translated over centuries from one language to the next.

As an example in the Tablets, one of them states: And the king will send a messenger of war, a copy of that tablet says: And the king will send a messenger of peace. Quite a difference. Also the record days of Venus conjunctions change from one tablet to the next.

It is quite interesting, so figured I'd share. The website for the PDF thesis is:

http://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/bitstrea ... thesis.pdf

It is entitled:
: Russell Hobson, THE EXACT TRANSMISSION OF TEXTS IN THE FIRST MILLENNIUM B.C.E., Published PhD Thesis. Department of Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies. University of Sydney. 2009 PDF File

You may also find a link if you google: Venus Tablets and go to the Wikipedia site, under NOTES, first heading.

I might add the footnotes of the thesis references so many really good texts for reading regarding the Bablonion astrology / omens. Some were translated acurately, some were not.

Enjoy!
Morning Sun

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hi morning sun,

thanks for sharing all this! i was thinking how much i would like to read david pingree's book babylonian planetary omens if it wasn't such an expensive book to purchase.. perhaps this 551 page thesis by russell hobson will comment on pingrees book or raise some interesting observations on it or more generally, that you appear to suggest.. thanks!

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Hi James!

No Problem!!

Yes David Pingree's book would be a good one, also many others there listed, but yes they are very expensive!! And wish I had the time! So many to read! What is interesting is how the copies of the tablets changed the more they were copied, and his source material and books. Very researched thesis!