The Gentile Times Reconsidered Chronology Christ

502 THE GENTILE TIMES RECONSIDERED
The reason may be the fact that Saturn was also very close to and in line with Mercury and
Jupiter, so the observer may have had difficulties in identifying the faint star in the
immediate vicinity of the three planets. (See also Walker’s comments, op. cit., p. 73.)
FURULI: YEAR 6 = 641 BCE:
Line 11: Year 6 in Furuli’s revised chronology is 641 BCE. The last visibility of Saturn in
641 took place in the evening of August 29, and the previous first lunar visibility on August
15 according to the program. If this was day 1 of lunar month 5, “day 20” of that month
would have begun in the evening of September 3, a difference of 5 days from that given by
the program for the last visibility of Saturn.
Line 12: The first visibility of Saturn in 641 took place in the morning of September 30
(Walker, September 29). The previous first lunar visibility took place in the evening of
September 14 according to the program. If lunar day 1 began in the evening that day, “day
22” must have begun in the evening of October 5, with the first visibility of Saturn taking
place in the next morning on October 6. That is 5 (or 6) days later than shown by the
program (and Walker’s table).
Still worse, Saturn was neither “behind ´the rear foot of’ the Lion (= β Virginis)” as stated in
the text, nor in the vicinity of γ Virginis. It was on almost exactly the same ecliptic longitude
as α Virginis (167.2 o ) and only 4 o above (north of) it, but more than 14 o behind γ Virginis
and over 28 o behind β Virginis! This clearly disagrees with the position recorded on the
tablet and refutes the year 641 as being year 6 of Kandalanu.
The text of lines 13 and 14:
13´ Year 7, month 6, day 10+(x), last appearance.
14´ [Year 7], month 7, day 15, ´in front of´ the Furrow (α+ Virginis), first appearance.
Comments:
YEAR 7 = 641 BCE:
Line 13: The 7 th year of Kandalanu is dated to 641 BCE. As stated above, the last visibility
of Saturn that year took place in the evening of August 29, with the first lunar visibility prior
to that date taking place in the evening of August 15. The day number is damaged, but is
evidently higher than 10. If August 15 was day 1 in the lunar calendar, the evening of
August 29 would correspond to the beginning of Babylonian day 15 of month 6. We
cannot know for sure, of course, that this is the correct restoration of the damaged day
number, but there is nothing that speaks against it.
Line 14: As stated above, the first visibility of Saturn in 641 took place in the morning of
September 30 (Walker, September 29). The previous first lunar visibility took place in the
evening of September 14. With that as the beginning of lunar day 1, “day 15” (of month 7)
must have begun in the evening of September 28, with the first visibility of Saturn taking
place in the next morning on September 29. The difference from the date given by the
program (and Walker’s table) is 1 (or 0) days.
The position of Saturn at its first visibility on September 29 was according to the tablet “´in
front of´ the Furrow α+ ( Virginis)”. As explained above, the astro -program shows that
Saturn at this time was almost exactly on the same ecliptic longitude as α Virginis (167.2 o )
and only 4 o above (north of) it. Thus it was not ´in front of´ it, as the text seems to say.
However, the text is somewhat damaged at this point and to show this Walker has put the
words “in front of” (ina IGI) within half brackets (something like ⌐ in front of ¬). Perhaps
the damaged sign could also be restored as “above” (⌐ above ¬)? If this is possible, the
problem would be solved.