This monumental book traces the origins and development of mathematics in the ancient
Middle East, from its earliest beginnings in the fourth millennium BCE to the end of …

In the modern West, we take for granted that what we call the “natural world” confronts us all
and always has—but Before Nature explores that almost unimaginable time when there was …

Astronomy and astrology, or the astral sciences, played an enormous, if not a key role in the
political and religious life of the Ancient Near East, and, later, of the Greek and Roman …

This dissertation is the result of a four-year project at the Department of Near Eastern
Languages and Cultures of the University of Groningen. With this project the department …

Mathematics was integral to Mesopotamian scribal culture: indeed, writing was invented
towards the end of the fourth millennium BC for the express purpose of recording …

MUL. APIN, written sometime before the 8th century BC, was the most widely copied
astronomical text in ancient Mesopotamia: a compendium including information such as star …

Rather than being an isolated, primitive body of knowledge the Jewish calendar tradition of
364 days constituted an integral part of the astronomical science of the ancient world. This …

Among the many celestial events observed in Ancient Mesopotamia, eclipses, particularly
eclipses of the moon, were considered to be among the most astrologically significant. More …

In the book of Genesis (XI, 9) the etymology of 'Babel'is given as 'confusion', the result of
divine intervention in order to punish a people for their wish 'to make a name for themselves' …

Ancient Knowledge Networks is a book about how knowledge travels, in minds and bodies
as well as in writings. It explores the forms knowledge takes and the meanings it accrues …