Re: [tied] Digest Number 176

From: Guillaume JACQUES
Message: 4012
Date: 2000-09-22

John .
This deductive divination was based upon historical events that were
associated with specific astronomical events. It was intended as a
warning (i.e. watch out for when the cases where astronomical event X
happened, as that was the period when the Akkadian empire was invaded
by Guti barbarians). It was a whole system of concrete science, and
it was only possible because of a clear view of te heavens. No other
culture developed such a system. Even the Mayans (their only
competitors in this "art") came close to the Sumero-Akkadians for
their atrological complexity.

You say that even people in Vancouver can see the stars. Yes, but
how many accurate astronomical discoveries were created by the
indigenous people of this area?

Je te signale quand meme que les chinois ont leur propre systeme d'astrologie, independant a mon avis de l'astrologie sumerienne. Pourtant, la chine du nord, c'est plutot brumeux. Il n'y qu'a voir les peinture de Huangshan.
On a plein de manuscrits sur bambous divinatoires, parlant notament des cometes et des eclipses. malheureusement, je ne crois pas que ce soit traduit. Tu peux lire l'encyclopedie de Needham pour te faire une idee (mais lui pense que l'astronomie chinoise vient de l'occident), et sinon tu peux lire le Huainanzi qui contient une description complete de l'astronomie chinoise (c'est un texte tardif - debut Han- mais on trouve les termes astrnomiques comme xiu4 < sjuwH < *a/suks 'constellation' se retrouvent des les inscriptions Shang ce qui prouve au moins qu'il ne peut pas s'agir d'un emprunt a la culture indienne).

Guillaume