(StraightShooterNews.com) – Revealing messages filled with dark prophecies rather than hopeful visions of the future, researchers have cracked the code on a set of 4,000-year-old doomsday Babylonian tablets.
The four clay tablets, inscribed with cuneiform, were found over a century ago in what is now Iraq and are held in the British Museum. They were only recently translated into contemporary language.
The findings published in the Journal of Cuneiform Studies suggest that these artifacts suggest a grim future, forecasting the deaths of kings and the collapse of empires.
The tablets provide insights into the ancient Babylonians of southern Mesopotamia, who based their predictions on the phases of the moon, especially lunar eclipses—instances when the moon is shadowed by the Earth.
Authors Andrew George and Junko Taniguchi note that these documents are “the oldest examples of compendia of lunar-eclipse omens yet discovered.”
The Babylonians meticulously recorded the timing, shadow movements, durations and dates of eclipses to forecast impending events.
They viewed celestial phenomena as divine signals foretelling the fates of earthly rulers and their realms.
Among the ominous predictions inscribed on the tablets: a king’s demise, the destruction of Elam (a historical region in what is now Iran) and the fall of the ancient regions of Subartu and Akkad.
As reported by Live Science, Babylonians believed these events would come to pass if “an eclipse becomes obscured from its center all at once [and] clear all at once.”
Additional bleak forecasts included a locust invasion, livestock losses and the defeat of a large army.
Emeritus Professor George of Babylonian at the University of London explained, “The origins of some of the omens may have lain in actual experience — observation of portent followed by catastrophe.” However, most were likely speculative.
The professor believes these tablets came from Sippar, a former Babylonian city near present-day Baghdad. Royal advisors used these tablets to counsel the king on potential future events.
To further verify these ominous predictions, advisers would examine the entrails of sacrificed animals to assess any real threats to the king. They also performed rituals to avert the foretold dangers.
In some cases, the Babylonians would install a substitute king to face any impending doom, sparing the real king from divine punishment.
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