In ancient Mesopotamia, days were interpreted as inherently positive or negative, which affected the results of activities or what happened on that day. This doctrine of essentially good and bad days was documented in a group of calendrical texts called "hemerologies" in modern terminology. Hemerologies determine whether a certain day is positive or negative. In addition, we have texts that ask about the appropriateness of a certain activity based on the quality of the day. These texts thus offered advice on everyday life about whether the desired action should be carried out or not on the day in question. - The aim of this work is to present a systematic presentation of hemerologies from Mesopotamia in the first millennium BC with thematic studies on various aspects. The study begins with a general overview of hemerologies in ancient Mesopotamia (Chapter 2): the terminology in modern scholarship, the divinatory tradition to which hemerologies belonged, as well as the sources and their temporal and geographical distribution.

Chapter 3 presents the calendars that served as the basis for the temporal orientation of the prescribed activities of the hemerologies and of everyday life. Chapter 4 deals with the collective tables and compilations that are products of scholarly editorial work. On the one hand, their creation reflects a certain interest of the authors, which is a key to the use of hemerologies in practice. On the other hand, the active processing of the existing texts through compilation is important when considering the role of the hemerological corpus in the scholarly tradition and the question of standardization. Chapter 5 explains the logic and systematics by which a certain hemerological idea was associated with a specific calendar day. Chapter 6 examines how hemerologies were used in practice, based on the texts themselves, the archival context, and the texts that cite or refer to hemerologies (chapters 6.1–4). They provide information on the people who copied and studied hemerologies, as well as on the academic, political dimensions of hemerologies, while subsection 6.5 examines the social influence by comparing it with everyday texts. The last chapter presents the changes in the hemerological tradition in the last centuries of cuneiform culture and the influence of Mesopotamian hemerologies on later ancient cultures.

The study is supplemented by editions of 14 selected hemerologies, hemerological compilations and relevant texts (transcription, transliteration, translation and commentary) that have not yet been published, have only been published in autographs or that update the known text with newly identified text representatives. The appendices provide a systematic overview of evaluated letters and royal inscriptions as well as dated everyday documents (marriage certificates, purchase documents) and requests for viewing sacrifices, which were used to examine the practical use of the hemerologies in Chapter 6.

1. Einleitung

1. 1. Forschungsgeschichte

1. 2. Ziele, Umfang und Struktur der Arbeit

2. Hemerologien im alten Mesopotamien

2. 1. Definition von „Hemerologie“ und ihr Divinationstyp

2. 2. Divination

2. 3. Quellen  

2. 4. Textstruktur

2. 5. Schriftträger und Tafelformat

3. Der kalendarische Hintergrund

3. 1. Kalender im alten Mesopotamien

3. 2. Tag und Monat in hemerologischen Texten  

3. 3. Monat und Jahr in hemerologischen Texten

3. 4. Das kalendarische Schema der Hemerologien  

4. Überlieferung und Redaktion

4. 1. Textkombination: Sammeltafeln und Kompilationen

4. 2. Ausbleibende Standardisierung – Besonderheiten der hemerologischen Überlieferung  

4. 3. Exkurs: Die Liste der göttlichen Tabus im Eintrag zum 7. VII. der Aššur-Hemerologie  

5. Systematik der Hemerologie

5. 1. Naturereignisse (System I)  

5. 2. Kultischer Hintergrund (System III)

5. 3. Zahlensymbolik (System IV)  

6. Praktische Anwendung des hemerologischen Wissens und dessen gesellschaftlicher Einfluss  

6. 1. Personen in den hemerologischen Texten

6. 2. Fundorte und Archivzugehörigkeit

6. 3. Beziehung zur Ausbildung  

6. 4. Gesellschaftlicher Einfluss 1: Verwendung von Hemerologien als Referenzmaterial

6. 5. Gesellschaftlicher Einfluss 2: Korrespondenz mit den Daten der täglichen Aktivitäten  

6. 6. Die gesellschaftliche Bedeutung der Hemerologien

7. Nachleben der Hemerologie

Edition ausgewählter Texte

Text 1: šigû-Hemerologie  

Text 2: Hemerologie zum Bitten

Text 3. 1: Speiseopfer-Hemerologie (K 14810)

Text 3. 2: Speiseopfer-Hemerologie, relevanter Text (K 12177)  

Text 4. 1: Hemerologie für Wahrsager (VAT 11336)

Text 4. 2: Hemerologie für Wahrsager, relevanter Text

Text 5: Nisannu-Hemerologie

Text 6. 1: Tašrītu-Hemerologie, assyrische Fassung (gabari māt Aššur)  

Text 6. 2: Tašrītu-Hemerologie, assyrische Fassung, relevanter Text (W 22656/13a = SpTU 4, 166)

Text 6. 3: Tašrītu-Hemerologie, babylonische Fassung (gabari māt Akkadî)

Text 7: Die hemerologische Kompilation VAT 11594

Text 8: Die hemerologische Kompilation K 2291+K 12000v

Text 9: Die hemerologische Kompilation K 11703

Text 10: Die hemerologische Kompilation, die sog. „Aššur-Hemerologie“

Anhänge  

Anhang 1: Hemerologische Berichte und Briefe

Anhang 2: Allgemeine Aussagen zur Günstigkeit von Tagen in Königsinschriften  

Anhang 3: Die neuassyrischen Heiratsurkunden  

Anhang 4: Die neuassyrischen Kaufurkunden mit vollständiger Datierung

Anhang 5: Die Datierungen der neuassyrischen Opferschauanfragen und deren Tagesbewertungen

Anhang 6: Die Datierungen der neuassyrischen Kaufurkunden, die Tagesbewertungen und die kaufbezogenen hemerologischen Einträge

Anhang 7: Lister der Texte mit hemerologischem Inhalt und eng verwandten Texte

Fotografien von Tontafeln  

Verzeichnisse