Time Intervals in 1 En. 72:8–32

Abstract

1 En. 72:8–32 contains the monthly scheme of the change in the length of the day and night within the schematic year of 364 days. The scheme uses two basic units to measure the time difference in the length of the nychthemeron between solstices: one ‘part’ and the fraction 1/9. Each nychthemeron is divided into 18 ‘parts’, and the regular factor of monthly variation is one ‘part’. Modern scholarship has failed to explain the meaning and function of the fraction 1/9 and the origin of the division of the nychthemeron into 18 ‘parts’. The first part of this study explains the meaning of the fraction 1/9 in the monthly computus and its relationship to one ‘part’. The second explores the division of the nychthemeron into 18 ‘parts’ compared to Table C, which is part of Tablet XIV of the Babylonian astrological compendium Enūma Anu Enlil.