This article is devoted to the study of the relations between the progress in astronomical knowledge and the development of religious concepts and beliefs in Mesopotamia during the VIIIth - VIth centuries BCE. It is aimed at showing that the discovery of the regularity of the celestial movements, and of their subsequent mathematical predictability induced the major Mesopotamian scholars to reconsider the traditional belief in the unpredictable manifestations of the divine will and intervention which was believed to govern all major celestial movements. This favoured the development of a tendency towards the unification of the polytheistic, inordinate divine world into a more ordered, possibly monotheistic structure.

The discovery of the regular movements of celestial bodies andthe development of monotheism in the Ancient Near East

LANFRANCHI, GIOVANNI-BATTISTA
2011

Abstract

This article is devoted to the study of the relations between the progress in astronomical knowledge and the development of religious concepts and beliefs in Mesopotamia during the VIIIth - VIth centuries BCE. It is aimed at showing that the discovery of the regularity of the celestial movements, and of their subsequent mathematical predictability induced the major Mesopotamian scholars to reconsider the traditional belief in the unpredictable manifestations of the divine will and intervention which was believed to govern all major celestial movements. This favoured the development of a tendency towards the unification of the polytheistic, inordinate divine world into a more ordered, possibly monotheistic structure.
2011
The inspiration of astronomical phenomena 6
9781583817629
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11577/164977
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