Predicting Weather By The Moon - Xavier University Libraries

The Moon in Ancient
History
Mesopotamia is now a fertile plain bordered by the
Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the Middle East. Today the
territory is occupied by Iraq and Kuwait. People known as
the Sumerians first settled here in about 4,000 to 3,500
BC., in the city states of Ur, Babylon and Urak.
Ur was one of the first settlements to be established
in the area, and became one of the most prosperous
Sumerian city states. The city of Babylon became the
religious and cultural center of the region. In Ur, numerous
annual and monthly festivals were held, including a monthly
feast to celebrate the first sighting of the New Moon. In
the eyes of the Sumerians, each month began with the
emergence of the New Moon in the heavens and ended
with its disappearance at the next New Moon. The months
were about 30 days long, with the first quarter occurring
on the 7th, and the Full Moon on the 15th. This resulted in
12 months or moon cycles occurring each year, which
resulted in a year of 354 days. They also divided the day
19