such Assyrian kings as Sargon II., Asshurnazirpal, Sennacherib,
and Asshurbanapal stand out with much distinctness. Yet, as a
whole, the record does not enable us to trace with clearness the
progress of scientific thought. At best we can gain fewer
glimpses in this direction than in almost any other, for it is
the record of war and conquest rather than of the peaceful arts
that commanded the attention of the ancient scribe. So in dealing
with the scientific achievements of these peoples, we shall
perforce consider their varied civilizations as a unity, and
attempt, as best we may, to summarize their achievements as a
whole. For the most part, we shall not attempt to discriminate as
to what share in the final product was due to Sumerian, what to
Babylonian, and what to Assyrian. We shall speak of Babylonian
science as including all these elements; and drawing our
information chiefly from the relatively late Assyrian and
Babylonian sources, which, therefore, represent the culminating
achievements of all these ages of effort, we shall attempt to
discover what was the actual status of Mesopotamian science at
its climax. In so far as we succeed, we shall be able to judge
what scientific heritage Europe received from the Orient; for in
the records of Babylonian science we have to do with the Eastern
mind at its best. Let us turn to the specific inquiry as to the
achievements of the Chaldean scientist whose fame so dazzled the
eyes of his contemporaries of the classic world.


BABYLONIAN ASTRONOMY

Our first concern naturally is astronomy, this being here, as in
Egypt, the first-born and the most important of the sciences. The