Rita watson, wayne horowitz writing science before the greeks a naturalistic analysis of the babylonian astronomical treatise MUL APIN 2011

Writing Science before the Greeks Culture and History of the Ancient Near East Founding Editor M H E Weippert Editor-in-Chief Thomas Schneider Editors Eckart Frahm (Yale University) W Randall Garr (University of California, Santa Barbara) B Halpern (Pennsylvania State University) Theo P J van den Hout (Oriental Institute) Irene J Winter (Harvard University) VOLUME 48 Writing Science before the Greeks A Naturalistic Analysis of the Babylonian Astronomical Treatise MUL.APIN By Rita Watson and Wayne Horowitz LEIDEN • BOSTON 2011 This book is printed on acid-free paper Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Watson, Rita Writing science before the Greeks : a naturalistic analysis of the Babylonian astronomical treatise MUL.APIN / by Rita Watson and Wayne Horowitz p cm — (Culture and history of the ancient Near East, ISSN 1566-2055 ; v 48) Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 978-90-04-20230-6 (hardback : alk paper) Astronomy, Assyro-Babylonian Akkadian language—Texts I Horowitz, Wayne, 1957– II Title III Series QB19.W38 2011 520.935—dc22 2010051431 ISSN 1566-2055 ISBN 978 90 04 20230 Copyright 2011 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA Fees are subject to change In tribute to Herman Hunger and David R Olson for their lifelong achievements in our respective fields; and in memory of our friend John Britton CONTENTS List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Foreword xvii xix xxi Introduction xxiii Chapter One MUL.APIN 1.1 The Text 1.2 Form 1.3 Date of Composition 1.4 MUL.APIN and the Scribal Tradition 1.5 Sequence in MUL.APIN 1.5.1 Sequence: Procedural Considerations 1.6 Mesopotamians and Moderns 1.7 Analytic Considerations: Why We Chose MUL.APIN 1.8 Conclusion 1 10 Chapter Two Writing and Conceptual Change 2.1 The Cuneiform Scribal Tradition 2.1.1 The Cuneiform Lists and Conceptions of Language 2.2 Writing, Cognition, and Culture 2.2.1 Literacy and the Brain 2.2.2 Naturalistic Approaches 2.2.3 Cognitive Evolution 2.2.4 Cultural Variation 2.2.5 Cultural Transmission 2.3 Writing and Conceptual Change 2.3.1 Writing and Rationality 2.3.2 The Greeks and the “Great Divide” 2.3.3 Moderns, Media, and Materialism 2.3.4 Pragmatics and the Uses of Writing 2.3.5 Permanence, Memory, and the Archival Uses of Texts 15 16 12 14 17 18 19 20 21 23 24 25 26 26 30 32 33 SUBJECT INDEX acrostics, xxiii–xxiv ACT See Astronomical Cuneiform Texts (ACT) Adar (month), second, 110 Akkadian language, copula implicit in, 73; determinatives in, 12, 86; space-time metaphors in, 100; syntax of, 67, 72, 100 alloglottography, 17 alphabetic bias, xxiii n2 animals, associated with winds, 97n13 Anu, path of (Central path), 4, 4n12, 63, 103, 106, 109, 155 See also Paths of Anu, Enlil, Ea; archives, 33, 34–35, 36 See also libraries; memory, writing and Aristotle, on definition, 17n7, 59, 163 Arrow (star), 107 artifacts, defined, 53–54; written signs as, 160 assumptions, 58, 75; as stipulative definitions, 57 Assur, 3, 3n8 Assurbanipal, library of, 3, 4, 5, 33, 169 Astrolabe B, 3–8, 3n10, 12, 13 Astrolabes, 1, 3, 3n10, 4, 4n12, 5, 5n14, 6–8, 12, 12n25, 13, 43, 69, 155, paths and, 4n12, 69; calendar and, 8; K 7931 and, 5–6; lists in, 155 astral-mythology, 108 astrology, as “applied astronomy,” 122; relation of to astronomy, 117–118, 172 See also omens Astronomical Cuneiform Texts (ACT), xxiv n5, 1, 12–13n25, 172; sophistication of, 170–171 astronomical phenomena, as “writing” of the gods, 172 astronomical texts, 1, 5–6 See also Astrolabe B; Astrolabe tradition; Astronomical Cuneiform Texts (ACT); BM 17175+; Enuma Anu Enlil; Great Star List; K 7931; List C (Uruk); MUL APIN; VAT 9412; ziqpu-star text astronomy (Mesopotamian), compared to modern, xxiv, 10–11, 53–54n1; meteorology and, 92; reception of in the Hellenistic and classical world, 1, 170, 174 See also astrology; astronomical texts; calendar; day and night, length of; Moon; omens; planets; star paths; stars; Sun Austin, J L., 36n30 axioms, 104–105, 154; as conclusions, 114; definition of, 58, 138 See also coefficients; generalizations; Moon, coefficient of visibility of; proto-axioms Babylonian Theodicy, xxiii Berlin Astrolabe See Astrolabe B bēru (unit of time), 111, 151 biological determinism, 21, 22 bitumen, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97 BM 17175+, 1n2, 3n9 BM 82671, xxiii brain, effect of writing on, 19–20 See also cognition, naturalistic approach to calendar (Mesopotamian), Astrolabes and, 8; lunar (civil ), 88, 90, 108–109n19, 114n23; solar, 88, 90 See also intercalation schemes; leap year; month; New Year’s Day; year cardinal directions, 48, 93, 124, 143–144; Mesopotamian conception of, 102 Carnap, R., 41 Cartesian dualism, 20 categories, 53, 83, 113, 128–131, 151; constructed, 73, 151–152; DIŠ as marker of, 79, 129–130; non-natural, 133–135; of planets, 88, 97–98; procedural, 92, 103; of stars, 68, 86, 130–131; stipulated, 56, 73, 76, 117, 133–135; in summary statement, 79; of years, 109 categorization, development of across MUL.APIN, 148–150; human cognition and, 53, 160, 161; inference and, 53; listmaking vs., 165; literacy and, 18–19; science and, 53, 54 See also categories; taxonomy 210 subject index Chaldeans, 1n6 Chinese language, space-time metaphors in, 49, 50 Chomsky, N., 41 Civil, M., 18, 28, 162 coefficients, in mathematical texts, 17n9, 116n24, 140, 155, 167, 170 See also Moon, coefficient of visibility of cognition, in children, 161; dual-process models of, 158–160, 163, 165–166, 168, 173; human vs animal, 22–23; language and, 23, 49–50, 158–159; naturalistic approach to, 10, 20–21; sign lists and, 162–163; theories and, 161–162; writing and, 18–20, 159–160 See also categorization; concepts; mental representation cognitive context, 37–38, 52 cognitive evolution, 21–22 colon, cuneiform, 62 colophons, xxiii; defined, 84n10; of K.7931, 5; of MUL.APIN, 3, 84 color, language and, 23; of planets, 98, 101 commentary, marked by DIŠ and/or cuneiform colon, 62, 150–151, 136; on omens, 121 common ground, 52 communication, models of, 36–38 See also Grice, H P.; marking concepts, 53–54; names and, 54–55 See also cognition conclusions, 85, 86, 88–89, 90; axioms as, 117; development of across MUL.APIN, 126–127; procedural information in, 132; summary statements as, 78 conditional sentences, 81, 103, 108, 132n5; omens as, 118, 172–173 constellations, 54n1, 63n2, as images of gods, 86 context, 37–44; indexicals and, 52; inference and, 52–53 conversation, logic of, 42n33 coordinating systems, 46, 47–48 See also frames of reference Copernicus, 171 copula, 56, 153; implicit in Semitic languages, 73 CT 33 9, cultural evolution, 21, 24, 26 cultural transmission, 22, 23, 24, 26; MUL.APIN as example of, 43; writing and, 35–36 cultural variation, 11, 23 culture, biological bases of, 21; cognition and, 22–26, 148n8; naturalistic explanation of, 24 cuneiform colon, 62 cuneiform texts, problems in the study of, 13 cuneiform script, adapted for different languages, 17n10, 30; diachronic changes in, 17; difficulty of mastering, 16 See also orthography, organization and; punctuation; scribal tradition cuneiform tablets, as status symbols, 33 cuneiform texts, transmission of, 6, 17, 25, 43 See also scribal curriculum; scribal tradition day and night, length of, 1, 111, 114, 126, 133 decontextualization, writing and, 37–38, 39 definiendum, 56, 153 definiens, 56, 153 definitions, 55–57; Aristotle on, 17n8, 163, 163n7; diachronic development of in MUL.APIN, 133–135; 151–154; intention and, 57; ostensive, 55, 130, 134, 152; procedural, 110, 113, 116, 117, 133, 154; stipulative, 56–57, 135, 138, 151, 153–154 See also statements of equivalence degree, angular (UŠ), 75, 76, 125, 134 deictic center, 47, 52; in MUL.APIN, 124, 127, 143, 144; observer as, 79 See also direct address; frames of reference; indexicals; marking deixis, 51 See also indexicals; marking Descartes, R., 20 determinatives, 12, 86 direct address, 2nd person, 78, 81, 93, 94, 96, 102, 106, 113, 116, 127–128, 142, 144; 3rd person, 78, 127; deictic center and, 127; diachronic changes in across MUL.APIN, 127–128; technical handbook tradition and, 169–170 DIŠ (¶), 61–62; 75, 78, 80, 87, 108, 113, 117, 121, 129–131, 135–7, 150–151; anomalies in use of, 107–108, 121, 131, 137; dividing lines and, 91–92, 112–113; entries marked by, 78, 117; as punctuation mark, 135, 149n9; rarely used to mark summary statements or conclusions, 68, 75, 78, 87, 92, 113, 113n22, 117, 129; sense subject index units marked by, 62, 129–130, 130–131, 136; twice on one line, 62 discourse, continuous (e-1), 78–79 discourse forms See discourse, continuous; frames of reference; generalizations; lists; textual forms disjunction, 100 dividing lines (horizontal rulings), 81–2, 91–2, 107–8, 112–4, 135; anomalies in use of, 62, 81–82; conceptual units marked by, 97; DIŠ and, 80, 91–92, 112–113, 135; entries separated by, 114; as punctuation, 135; sections or subsections marked by, 2, 69, 80, 89, 103, 111; summary statements separated by, 68, 107–108, 130 dyslexia, 19–20, 23 Ea, path of (Southern path), 4, 4n12, 63, 103, 106, 109, 155 EAE See Enuma Anu Enilil Ebla, 33, 162 education, cognitive change and, 32, 39; scribal, 6, 16, 17n8 See also scribal tradition Elul (month), second, 110 English language, space-time metaphors in, 48–49, 50 Enlil, path of (Northern path), 4, 4n12, 63, 103, 106, 109, 155; ziqpu stars in, 76 entries, 61, 62; complete sentences as, 67; DIŠ as marker of, 62, 66, 89, 113; dividing lines between, 114; relationship of to lines of text, 62, 129, 136 Enuma Anu Enlil (EAE), 1, 1n3, 5–6, 12, 12n25, 13, 101n16, 117, 117n25, 121, 155, 172 cited by 7th-century astronomers, 141; composition of, 5, 13; grouping of Anu, Enlil, and Ea stars in, 130n4, 149n10; Tablet 50, 98n14; Tablet 51, 5–6 Enuma Elish, 14n27, 43 epidemiology of representations, 21 equinoxes, 51, 88–91, 104n7, 112–114; ratio of day to night on, 73–74, 111; relationship of to seasons, 51; visibility of Moon on, 114 essentialism, 54, 163 figure-ground opposition, 46 See also coordinating systems; frames of reference 211 form of life (Wittgenstein), 52, 55 frames of reference, diachronic shift from intrinsic/relative to absolute in MUL.APIN, 123–125; intrinsic, 66; as linguistic universals, 46; in Mesopotamian astronomy, 51; relative, 66; spatial/absolute, 75, 82, 90, 100, 124, 125; spatial/intrinsic, 79, 82, 85, 90, 123, 125; spatial/ relative, 79, 82, 85, 87, 90, 96, 100, 104, 123, 124; temporal/absolute, 72, 73, 82–83, 85–86, 90–91, 95, 100, 104, 107, 116, 124, 125; temporal/ relative, 72, 73, 82–83, 91, 95, 107 See also coordinating systems; marking Frege, G., 129n3 Galileo, 45, 171 generalizations, and the text marker DIŠ, 150–151; about dates, 83, 91; about stars, 75; about planets, 87–88, 96–97, 100; about seasons, 104–105; about winds, 103; in conditional form, 108; diachronic development of, 137–138, 154–155; in introductions and conclusions, 79, 86; unmarked by DIŠ, 75 See also axioms; proto-axioms generative syntax, 41, 166n9 See also recursion geometry, Mesopotamian, xxiv, 117n24; in pre-literate cultures, 157 Gilgamesh Epic, 13, 43 Girsu, xxiii n1 glassmaking, 169–170 gnomon, 9, 111, 133, 151, 169, 171 gods, stars identified with, 86; winds associated with, 97n13 graphemes, 19 “great divide,” between preliteracy and literacy, 26, 29 Great Star List, 97n13, 110n20 Greece, literacy in, 26, logic and rationality in, 29–30, 174; reception of Babylonian astronomical tradition in, xxiv Grice, H P., 36–37, 42n33, 44; his maxim of quantity, 144, 145, 147 See also marking group of groups, 130, 149 See also categories Hammurabi, 110 Heraclitus, 54 212 subject index Homer, 14n27 horizontal rulings See dividing lines horoscopes, 12–13n25, 172 See also astrology horses, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97 inclusio, 77 indentation, on cuneiform tablets, 62 indexicals, 51; difficulty of interpreting in written text, 141–142; precision of increases throughout MUL.APIN, 142–147 See also frames of reference; marking; rhetorical-indexical clusters inference, categorization and, 53, 54; communication and, 37, 38; context and, 52–53; form of MUL.APIN and, 167 See also recalibration intention, communication and, 36–37; definition and, 57 intercalation 84, 88, 105, 90–91, 108–10 132; procedural definition of month in, 133 interpretability, recalibration and, 140–141, 141–142, 145, 147 introductions, 2n7, 58–59, 77–8, 80, 81, 82, 85, 86, 102; absent, 63, 103–4, 118; development of across MUL APIN, 125–127 joint attentional frame, 52 Jupiter, 63n2, 67, 95 K 7931, 5–6 Kassite period, 110 Kiefer, F., 56 kinds, natural, 53–54, 76, 128; stipulated, 112 Kislev (month), Kripke, S., 54 language, 22–23; cognition and, 148n8; human capacity for, 21–23, 41; and thought, 21–23, 45–53, 54–59, 158–159 leap year, xxi; as constructed category, 151–152; determination of, 105–106; procedural definition of, 133, 134–135, 153–154 Leibniz, G W., 45 Leontev, A N., 31 lexical lists, 16, 25, 42, 161–167 libraries, 33 See also archives; Assurbanipal, library of lines of text, on cuneiform tablets, 61; 76–77 See also entries linguistic form, of axioms, 167; of category names, 149; context and, 37; of definitions, 151, 152–154; of omens, 172; recalibration and, 141; writing and, 38, 40, 42 See also logic; logical form; recalibration linguistics, ancient, 17–18, 36, 163 Lisi star, 121 listmaking, as a human universal, 162, 173–174; science and, 160–161, 163–165, 173–174 lists, categorization and, 27; cuneiform corpus of, 36; of cuneiform signs, 28, 162–163; encyclopedic function of, 165; format of, 63, 66, 78–79, 85; oral vs written, 27–28; organization of, 17–18; 28, 162–163; position of in MUL.APIN, 155; scribal education and, 17–18; of stars, 63, 66; textual form of, 42, 162 See also Urru = hubullu series Listwissenschaft, 164, 174 literacy, alphabetic, 18–19, 19–20, 23; cognition and, 19–20, 30–31, 32; cross-cultural effects of, 29–30; logic/rationality and, 26–27, 29, 31; logographic, 19–20 See also “great divide”; “literacy hypothesis”; readability; writing “literacy hypothesis,” 26–30, 32 logic, literacy and, 26–27, 29, 31, 166; in MUL.APIN, 148–155 See also “great divide”; “literacy hypothesis”; logical form logical form, 40, 41–42, 44, 159, 166; writing and, 159, 167 logograms, organization of in lists, 18 logographic scripts, 19–20, 23 Ludlul Bel Nemeqi, 13 Marduk, 67 marking: appropriate, 125; over-, 82, 124, 144, 147; under-, 124, 143; diachronic changes in across MUL.APIN, 135–137, 146–147 See also deictic center; frames of reference Mars, 8, 63n2, 67, 95 mathematics (Mesopotamian), xxiv, 17n9, 108–110, 116–117, 117n24, 130, 135, 155 subject index mathematics, 116–117n24; compound numbers and fractions in, 111; intercalation and, 108–109, 109–110; sexagesimal, xxiv; sophistication of in ACT tradition, 170 measurement units See bēru; mina; NINDA; shekel; UŠ; watch See also in Sumerian-Akkadian index: bēru; NINDA; UŠ memes, 24 memory, capacity of short-term, 34n24; writing and, 33–35, 39, 165, 166 mental representation, 36, 40, 159 Mercury, 63n2, 67, 95, 101, 124 Mesopotamia, cultural interchange between the eastern Mediterranean and, 29–30 Mesopotamian astronomy See astronomy (Mesopotamian) metaphors, in MUL.APIN, 93, 97; and space-time, 49–50 meteorology, 92 See also weather mina (Sumerian MA.NA = Akkadian mana; unit of time), 73 mind, literate vs pre-literate, 31 See also “great divide” Moon, 9, 83, 85–86, 88, 90, 105, 107, 116–117, 125, 154, 175; determining the visibility of, 114, 116–117, 137, 141; full, 114, 114n23; Path of the, 83, 84; as planet, 63n2 moonrise, 114n23, 116 moonset, 114, 116 MUL.APIN, accretion model of its development, 140, 146, 175; canonical version of, 2, 3–5, 7, 9, 13–4, 42–3, 83, 137, 141; chronological organization of, 7–10; cognitive-linguistic analysis and, 12–14; comparative analysis of, 14, 14n27; composition of, 3–5, 7, 9, 14, 42, 139–140, 147; contents of, 2–3; cultural transmission and, 35, 42, 43–44; cumulative development of, 42–43; date of, 1, 3–6; determination of sections in, 83–84, 92, 93, 105; diachronic changes across component sections of, 7–9, 123–138, 155; inferential model of its development, 140–142, 147, 167; manuscripts of, xxiv n6, 12, 62; omnibus nature of, 121; parallels to, 3–6, 7–8, 43; rationality and, 173–175; technical handbook 213 tradition and, 128, 131, 169–171; as textbook, 9, 170 mythological material, 2, 97 names, 54–55; category formation and, 131 naturalistic approach, xxv, 11–12, 24, 45 Nergal, New Year’s Day, 105 Newton, I., 45 NINDA (unit of measure), defined, 91 Nineveh, xxvi, numbers, as distinct domain in cognition, 152n11 “observer of the sky,” 8–9, 78–9, 81–2, 94, 127, 144, 146 See also direct address offerings, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97 omens, 1, 92–3, 170–1, 173; astronomical content of, 121–122; conditional form of, 118, 132n5; inclusion of in MUL.APIN, 2, 169, 172–173; Mercury in, 101, 101n16; as “writing of the gods,” 172 See also Enuma Anu Enlil oral tradition, scribal tradition and, 9, 10, 28, 141, 145, 146 orality, textual under-marking and, 146 “Orchenoi,” 1n6 Ordnungswille, 160, 164 orthography, brain and, 19–20; categorization and, 36; organization of lists and, xxiii, 17–18, 28 See also writing Paths of Anu, Enlil, and Ea, 4+n12, 63, 103, 106, 109 planets, 9, 74, 76, 84, 86, 88, 95; apparent movement of, 96, 98, 100–101; complexity of entries describing, 67–68; generalizations about, 96–97; Mesopotamian category of, 63n2; in Path of the Moon, 86–87; paths/trajectories of, 100, 101; Sun and Moon as, 63n2 Pleiades, 105 point of view See deictic center polyvalence, of cuneiform signs, 28 procedural category, 92, 103 procedures, 8–9; diachronic changes in across MUL.APIN, 126, 131–133; 214 subject index mathematical, 108–109; for identifying wind directions, 102–103; for observing the ziqpu, 80; for reckoning leap years, 105–106, 108; ritual, 96; in summary statements, 114 See also intercalation schemes; technical handbook tradition proto-axioms, 75, 138 See also axioms; generalizations Proto-Ea (sign list), 28, 162 Proto-Izi (sign list), 163 punctuation, 61–62, 135 See also cuneiform colon; DIŠ; dividing lines/ horizontal rulings; indentation; lines of text rainbows, 121 rationality, 26, 29, 40–42, 44; Greeks and, 174; omen tradition and, 173 readability, factors that improve, 141–147 reader, role of in inferential recalibration process, 141–142 recalibration, linguistic form and, 141; as mechanism of writing’s cognitive effects, 35, 38–39, 40, 44; textual indicators of, 155; as “writing in order to be read,” 142 See also interpretability, recalibration and; linguistic form; logical form; rhetorical-indexical clusters recursion, 22, 41, 56–57 See also generative syntax redundancy See marking: overre-interpretation, relation of to writing and cognitive change, 39 See also interpretability, recalibration and Relevance Theory, 37 representational kinds, 160 rhetorical features, analysis of, 58–59; development of in MUL.APIN, 125–128, 142–147 See also direct address, conclusions; inclusio; introductions; tables; textual forms; transitions rhetorical-indexical clusters, 142–147, 155; recalibration and, 175 rituals, 100, 107; on eve of rising of the Lisi star, 121 rulings, on tablets See dividing lines Saturn, 63n2, 67, 95 science, categorization and, 53, 54–55; language of, 57, 59, 132n5; linguistic generativity/recursion and, 165–166; listmaking and, 160–161, 163–165, 173–174; “naïve,” 54, 161; reasoning and, 157; writing and, 25–30, 139–142, 147, 166–168 See also astrology; astronomy (Mesopotamian); cognition; conditional sentences; definitions; logic; logical form; rationality; procedures scribes, scribal tradition, 6–7, 10, 16–18, 16n5, 17, 17n9, 24, 42–3; 139–40, 147, 166; oral tradition and, 10, 141 scribes, relation to Assyrian court, 122 “scriptism,” 26, 31, 163 Searle, J., 36n29 seasons, position of Sun during, 103; reckoning of in Mesopotamia, 48, 51, 91n11; 104–105 sections See dividing lines, sections or subsections marked by; MUL.APIN, determination of sections in sense, Fregean usage of, 129n3 sense unit See DIŠ, sense units marked by sentences, complete, 87; complex, 90, 91, 100, 102; conditional, 81, 103, 108, 118, 132n5, 172–173; in parallel form, 103, 114, 116 See also textual forms shadow measurement, 111 See also gnomon shekel (unit of time), 125 Shulgi of Ur, 110 sign, linguistic, 160, 163 sign lists, 162–163 “sky,” Mesopotamian and modern concepts of, 10–11 solstices, 51, 89, 90, 91, 104n17, 111, 112–113; ratio of day to night on, 3, 73 Soviet Union, 30–31 space, language of, 45–48 See also frames of reference space-time continuum, 46 space-time language, 23, 45–48, 67; changes in across MUL.APIN, 123–125; metaphors in, 49–51 speech, 41; context and, 37; cultural transmission and, 35; representation of, 159 star lists/catalogues, 2, 7–8; categorization and, 148; function of in MUL.APIN, 165–166; structure of, 66, 68–69; as subject matter of MUL.APIN, 63, 148 star paths, 3–4, 63, 64, 69 See also Anu, path of; Ea, path of; Enlil, path of subject index stars, apparent motion of, 74; gods identified with, 63, 86; heliacal rising of, 69, 79; Mesopotamian category of, 63n2; rising and setting of, 8, 69–71, 73, 95; wind directions and, 101, 102, 103 See also star lists/catalogues; star paths statements of equivalence, as definitions, 56, 73; increasing frequency of in MUL.APIN, 134–135, 153; science and, 57; in tabular form, 112–113 See also definitions, stipulative Strabo, 1n6 subsections See dividing lines, sections or subsections marked by Sumerian language, 16 summary statements, absent from omen list, 118; categories named in, 79, 88, 106, 109, 129; complexity of increases throughout MUL.APIN, 148–149; as conclusions, 2n7, 87, 90; DIŠ and, 68, 92, 113n22, 129, 137, 137n8; as implicit ostensive definitions, 133–134; as inclusio, 77; procedural, 111, 114; as “titles,” 68, 125, 126 See also conclusions; DIŠ, rarely used to mark summary statements or conclusions Sun, 9, 48, 51, 90–1, 91n11, 100, 103–5, 107; in MUL.APIN, 9; as planet, 63n2 Sun-god, 86, 91, 95 “sunrise,” 67, 82 “sunset,” 67, 114, 116 System cognition, System cognition See cognition, dual-process models of System A and B Babylonian mathematical astronomy, 174 tables, 112–113 Talmud, 14n27 taxonomy, 11n23; development of in MUL.APIN, 128–131, 148–150 See also categorization technical handbook tradition, 128, 131, 142, 169–171; use of direct address in, 145 temporal description, absolute, 68; relative, 67 See also frames of reference textbook See technical handbook tradition textual forms, changes in across MUL.APIN mirror development 215 in content, 145, 157–158, 175; subsections distinguished by, 84; examples: complete sentences, 67, 74, 80, 87, 88, 93, 98, 102, 103, 105, 114; conditional sentences, 103, 118; continuous discourse, 76–77, 95; lists, 42, 63, 80, 85, 162; parallel sentences, 69, 80, 87, 103, 105, 114; parallel structures, 111 See also rhetorical features; rhetorical-indexical clusters; sentences theories, cognitive function of, 161, 162 time, language of See frames of reference; space-time language time, measurement of, 90–91 See also water clock Torah, 14n27 Toronto School, 30 transitions (rhetorical function), 76, 84 translation, as indicator of universality of human language, 22 unit of sense See DIŠ, sense units marked by Urra = hubullu series, 1, 18, 28, 148, 165 Uruk, 1n6; lists from, 165 UŠ (measurement of angular degree), 75, 76 Uzbekistan, 31–32 Vai people (Liberia), 32 Venus, 63n2, 67, 95, 100 Vienna Circle, 41 watch (unit of time), 73–4, 90, 114 water clock, 3, 9, 73–4, 90, 111, 133, 151, 160, 169, 171; as artifact, 54 weather, 2, 92, 95, 103, 173 Whorfian hypothesis, 23 winds, 51, 92, 95; animals associated with, 97, 97n13; direction of indicated by stars, 101, 102, 103 writing, archival function of, 33–34, 35–36; “bootstrapping” function of, 167, 168; categorization and, 27; cognition and, 18–20, 21, 26–35, 157–158, 159–160, 166–167; decontextualization and, 37–38, 39; definition and, 151; invention of, 15, 33, 159; logical form and, 40–42, 159, 166; memory and, 33–35, 165, 166, 167–168; neurological effects of, 19–20, 23; permanence of, 16, 33, 34, 216 subject index 35–36, 38, 40; rationality and, 40–42, 44; recalibration and, 35, 38–39, 40, 44, 141–142; as sui generis form of communication, 36, 44, 157, 158 See also linguistic form; logical form; marking; interpretability, recalibration and; orthography; readability, factors that improve; recalibration; science, writing and written signs, as artifacts, 159–160 year, xxiv, 1, 3–4, 4n12, 8, 51, 72, 75, 80, 83, 88, 103–6, 108–109n19, 126, 128, 130–4, 153–4 See also calendar; leap year zenith (ziqpu), of stars, 79 ziqpu stars, 9, 62, 76–81, 86, 126–7, 129, 132, 134, 136, 143–4, 149, 154; category of, 129–130, 149; procedures for observing, 77, 80 ziqpu-star text (parallel to MA I iii 49–50), 74n8, 76 zodiac, 12–13n25, 172 AUTHOR INDEX Alegria, J., 19n10 Al-Rawi, F., xxiv Antony, L M., 20n12 Atran, S., 20n11, 23, 24, 32, 44, 148n8 Baddeley, A., 35n25, 165n8 Bar-Hillel, Y., 51 Bertelson, P., 19n10 Biebuyck, D., 28 Bierwisch, M., 56 Black, J., 16n3, 33, 165 Blok, S., 32 Boroditsky, L., 48, 49, 50 Bottero, J., 170 Bowerman, M., 46,148n8 Boyd, R., 21n15, 24 Brack-Bernsen, L., 72n7 Bradley, L., 19n10 Breheny, R., 37n31 Bright, W., 15n2 Britton J., 171, 174 Brown, D., 73, 111n21 Brown, R., 55 Brug J F., xxivn4 Bryant, P E., 19n10 Carey, S., 54, 152n11, 157, 161, 162 Carruthers, P., 21, 159 Carston, R., 37n31 Casaburi, M C., 3n10 Castles, A., 19n10 Castro-Caldas, A., 19 Chemla, K., xxii Chen, H., 19n10 Cheung, H., 19n10 Chomsky, N., 21n15, 24 Civil, M., 16n3, 16n4, 17n8, 18, 28, 42, 162–3, 165 Clark, H., 52 Claudiere, N., 21n15, 24 Cole, M., 32, 39 Coley, J., 32 Coltheart, M., 19n10 Cooper, J S 15, 16n3, 157 Cox, D., 32 Damerow, P., 33, 109n19, 157n2, 165 Daniels, P T., 15n2 Dascal, M., 46 Davidson, D., 57, 133, 135, 153 Dawkins, R., 24 Dehaene, S., 157n1 Dennett, D., 21, 23, 35n27, 55 56 Dienes, Z., 157 Disalle, R., 46 Englund, R K., xxiii, 6, 10, 15, 16, 16n3, 18, 33, 109n19, 157n2, 165 Evans, J St B T., 157, 158n3 Fayol, M., 19n10 Fermor, J., 73, 111n21 Fernyhough, C., 31, 31n24 Fillmore, C., 52 Fitch, W T., 21n15, 22, 23, 41 Fodor, J A., 22, 53, 56, 166 Fox, D., 40 Fox, P T., 23 Frankish, K., 158, 158n3 Frege, G., 129n3 Frith, U., 19 Gaur, A., 15n2 Gelb, I J., 15n2 Gelder, B de, 19n10 Gelman, S., 54, 55, 161, 162 Gentner, D., 23, 55, 161, 162 George, A R., 4, 13, 43, 43n34 Gladwin, T., xxii Gleitman, L., 46 Goldin-Meadow, S., 23, 148n8 Goody, J., 15n2, 26, 27, 28, 30 Grice, H P., 36, 37, 42n33, 44, 144, 145, 147 Gross, A., 59 Gunter, A., 29 Halverson, J., 27, 28, 32, 33, 34 Harman, G., 59 Harris, R., xxiii, xxvn8, 15n2, 17n8, 25n16, 26, 26n17/19, 29, 32, 33, 41, 163n7, 173, 174 218 author index Haun, D., 46 Hauser, M., 21n15, 22, 41 Havelock, E., 29 Hills, M., 19n10 Hirschfeld, L A., 20n11, 21n15, 23, 24 Holden C., 10 Hornstein, N., 20n12 Hunger, H 121–2, 141, 170 (Hunger & Pingree, Appendix One, passim) Hurowitz, A W., xxiv Innis, H A., 30, 30n23 Jin, Z., 19 Johnson-Laird, P., 46 Jolley, N., 46 Jones, A., 1n6 Kant, I., 46 Kay, P., 23 Kiefer, F., 56 Kim, K., 161 Kintsch, W., 10 Kinzler, K D., 54n2, 152n11, 157n1 Kita, S., 46 Kneale, M., 41 Kneale, W., 41 Koch-Westenholz, U., 8n18, 13, 97n15, 101n16, 110n20 Kornblith, H., 20n11 Kripke, S., 54 Kuczaj, S.A., 22 Lai, C., 19n10 Lambert, W G., xxiii n1, 13, 43, 91n11 Liberman, I., 19n10 Leibniz, G W., 46 Levinson, S C., 23, 46, 48, 50, 143n6, 148n8 Li, P., 46 Lloyd, G E R., 27 Lloyd, P., 31, 31n24 Luria, A R., 31, 31n24, 32, 40 Lynch, E B., 53, 148n8 Majid, A., 46 Markman, A B., 53 Martinet, C., 19n10 McLuhan, M., 30, 30n23 Medin, D L., 20n11, 23, 24, 32, 44, 53, 148n8 Michalowski, P., 15, 16n3 Miller, A I., 46 Miller, G A., 34n25, 165n8 Moorey, P R S., 169, 170 Neugebauer, O., xxiii n3, xxiv n5, 170 Newton, I., 45 Nisbett, R., 23 Nissen, H J., xxiii, 6, 10, 15, 16, 16n3, 18, 33, 109n19, 157n2, 165 Nunberg, G., 51, 52 Olbrechts-Tyteca, L., 59 Olson, D R., 15n2, 17n8, 26n19, 36n28, 141n2, 157, 163n7 Ong, W., 15n2 Oppenheim, A L., 164, 169, 170 Over, D E., 157 Parpola, S., 170 Pearce, L E., xxiv n4, 6, 16 17n9, 165 Peirce, C S., 160 Perelman, C., 59 Perfetti, C A., 19, 23 Perner, J., 157 Pingree, D (Hunger & Pingree, 1989; Appendix One, passim) Pinker, S., 20, 20n12, 21, 21n15, 22 Pongratz-Leisten, B., 29 Proffitt, J B., 32 Reby, D., 23 Regier, T., 59 Reidy, M., 59 Reiner, E., 6n16, 98n14, 117n25, 121 Richerson, P J., 21n15, 24 Robinson, R., 55 Robson, E., 116n24, 155 Rochberg,/ Rochberg-Halton F., 1n3/6, 5, 16n5, 132n5, 172, 175 Ross, B H., 20n11, 23, 24, 32, 44, 53 Rubio, G., 17n7, 29, 36 Sachs, A., xxiii n3 Schaffer, A., 49 Schmandt-Bessarat, D., 157n2 Scribner, S., 32, 39 Shankweiler, D., 19n10 Siok, W T., 19, 23 Soden, W von, 161, 164 Soll, W M., xxiv n4 Solomon, K O., 53, 148n8 Sommerfeld, W., 110 Spelke, E S., 54n2, 152n11, 157, 161 Sperber, D., 20n11, 21n15, 23, 24, 37, 38, 52 Stanovich, K., 19n10 Stock, B., 15n2 Strabo, 1n6 author index Tait, W J., 16n3, 33, 165 Talmy, L., 46, 52 Tan, L H., 19, 23 Tigay, J., 43 Tomasello, M., 21n15, 22, 24, 35n27, 52, 148n8 Valdois, S., 19n10 Van Soldt, W., 117n25, 121 Vanstiphout, H., 16n3, 17, 18n8 Veldhuis, N., 6, 16, 16n3/4/5, 17, 17n8/9, 28, 33, 140, 161, 164, 165 Verderame, L., 117n26 219 Walker, C B F., 10, 16n3, 17, 73 112n21 Watt, I., 15n2 Waxman, S R., 56 Weidner, E F., 3, 3n10, 4n10, 97n15 Wellman, H M., 54 , Wilson, D., 37, 37n31, 38, 52 Wittgenstein, L., 38n30, 52, 55 Wong, O., 19n10 Zwaan, R A., 10 AKKADIAN AND SUMERIAN WORD INDEX For an index of star names in MUL.APIN see Hunger & Pingree, 1989 bēru bibbu DINGIR DIŠ edubba elammattu ēma ereb šamši igigubbu kakkabu lu -ma mul MUL 111, 151 63n2, 84, 86 86 See subject index 16 12 100n15 67 116–117n24, 155 53, 63n2 100n15 72 63n2 12, 53, 86 MÚL nabû na āru NINDA qabû īt šamši u udu.idim UŠ d UTU.È.A d UTU.ŠÚ.A ziqpu 12 109, 131 93 90, 91, 111, 114, 125, 134, 151 109, 131 67 72 63n2 111, 125, 134, 151 67 67 9, 79; See also subject index MUL.APIN TEXT CITATION INDEX I I I I I I I I I I I I i i i i i i i i i i i i 1–9 1–ii 35 10 12–14 16 16–17 34–38 36–38 37 38 39 I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I i 42 ii 13–17 ii 16–17 ii 18 ii 20 ii 35 ii 36 ii 36–iii 12 ii 36–iii 48 ii 42–43 ii 43 iii iii 7–9 iii 13–iii 33 iii 34–iii 48 iii 35 iii 49 iii 49–50 I I I I I I I I I iv iv iv iv iv iv iv iv iv 1–3 1–9 1–30 4–6 I I I I I iv iv iv iv iv 7–9 8–11 10 10–12 63–69 66 123 143 123 129, 148 129n2 67 67 67 66, 68, 78, 134, 136, 148, 152 66, 123 67 67, 68 66, 68, 136, 148 62 66, 68, 148 150 72 69–74 73 134 73 73 72 73 136 131, 134 74–76, 136, 137, 150 78, 81 79 76–79 76–84 78, 124, 127 77, 78, 127 78 130, 149 79, 130, 134, 149, 152, 153 2, 62 127 132 78 81 I I I I I I I I I I I I I iv iv iv iv iv iv iv iv iv iv iv iv iv 10–13 10–14 10–30 13–14 14 15–16 31 31–32 31–34 31–39 31–II i 33–37 38 II i 1–8 II i II i 9–24 II i 10 II i 12 II i 23–24 II i 25–31 II i 25–37 II i 25–71 II i 26–31 II i 38–43 II i 44–67 II i 68–71 II i 71 Gap A 1–7 Gap A 8–II ii 17 II ii II ii II ii II ii II II II II II II ii ii ii ii ii ii 7–8 7–10 7–17 9–10 10 II II II II ii ii ii ii 11 11–12 12 13–17 82, 124, 144 81 79–83 81 124 124 86 85 136 84–86 83–88 86 86 86–88 88 88–92 134 134 128, 132 136 93–95 92–103 2–3 95–98, 136 98–101 101–103, 136 103 92, 103–105 105–110 132 135, 151 107, 145 130, 131, 149, 155, 167 108 107, 113, 136 137n8 109, 131 108 109, 130, 131, 134, 153 108 107, 113, 130 108 107, 109, 113, 145, 153–154 222 II II II II II II ii 18–20 ii 21–42 ii 22–23 ii 41 ii 43–iii 15 iii 13 mul.apin text citation index 105, 110 111–113 135, 153 113 114–117 116, 135, 138, 154, 155, 167 II II II II iii iii iii iii 16–iv 12 33 33–34 35–38 117–122 62, 121 121 121 ... Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Watson, Rita Writing science before the Greeks : a naturalistic analysis of the Babylonian astronomical treatise MUL. APIN / by Rita Watson and Wayne. .. before the Greeks A Naturalistic Analysis of the Babylonian Astronomical Treatise MUL. APIN By Rita Watson and Wayne Horowitz LEIDEN • BOSTON 2011 This book is printed on acid-free paper Library... reveal about writing and conceptual change The result was the exploratory analysis of the Mesopotamian astronomical treatise MUL. APIN presented in this volume The modern relevance of the ancient