There is exciting news among historians as a set of ancient Babylonian tablets have recently been uncovered and translated. These tablets were said to have discussed astronomical predictions that revealed the fates of dynasties and empires. These would be warnings to the people of these lands, explaining what they must do to avoid destruction. The recently translated tablets present a worst-case scenario letter of what would happen if things did not go their way.
The Doomsday Letter of Babylon
In a time before modern science, ancient civilizations like Babylon relied on omens from the stars and sun. Natural phenomena like eclipses were often seen as signs from the gods and could determine how the empire was run. The latest translations reveal as many as 61 omens.
These are observations and predictions that list down the possibilities of certain phenomena. Sort of saying if this and this occur now, the effect will be this and that. In this tablet, almost all of the predictions made are university bad, promising serious consequences such as extreme weather, deluge, and famine. Others are a bit more vague and suggest things like evil descending on the land, perhaps hinting at a foreign invasion. In many ways, this presents a similar sense of dread as catastrophes we’ve encountered in the modern age.
But while this might point to gloom and doom, these are far from set and stone. Kings could prevent these futures by consulting oracles, performing sacrifices, or by changing certain policies.
Fortunately for the kings, there were ways to counteract these omens, such as seeking out oracles—specialists would be called in to examine the entrails of animals—and performing the prescribed rituals.
First discovered in the 1970s by Babylonian scholar Douglas Kennedy, the tablets were initially used by researchers as a key reference to trace the evolution of lunar eclipse texts over time. Their content closely resembles that of Old Babylonian tablets translated a decade earlier, which are linked to Dur-Abiesuḫ, a fortress located on the Tigris River near the ancient city of Nippur.
The exact origins of these tablets remain unclear. It is believed that they were acquired by the British Museum from various Babylonian antiquities dealers, primarily during the last decade of the 19th century.
“The deluge will occur everywhere”
“People will trade their children for silver, there will be a reduction in population”
“There will be evil in the land, its bounty will disappear.”
-Babylonian Tablet
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