Talk:Babylonian Map of the World

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"Map of the World"[edit]

I just started this article, all because of the reference book: The Ancients In Their Own Words. I thought I would give it some preliminary ratings, as to how important I think it is, or could be.

Of note, I recently did the Commons category of: "Category:Cuneiform on media", (it-(the Map) is under: "Category:Cuneiform on maps"). It is worth examining-(the media cat) whether one knows about cuneiform, or not....(from the SonoranDesert, ArizonaUSA...) ...Mmcannis (talk) 02:20, 29 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Cuneiform text section[edit]

How easy is it to find the translation of the text section? I think the article needs to balance the MAP translation, with what the "Text Section" states-(I rate the article 2.5 to 4.0 on most scales, but only 2.0 for COMPLETENESS for lack of the Text Section)...Mmcannis (talk) 15:31, 15 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Seven or eight triangles?[edit]

Text stated that there are "eight triangles" (nagu) around the outer circle. Only four are clearly visible. The others have to be reconstructed. It seems to me that, if missing triangles are spread evenly around the lower half of the outer circle, there is no room for a supposed eighth triangle. So thought Eckhard Unger (1931) when he reconstructed the missing parts of the tablet (cited in: Grosser Historischer Weltatlas, München: Bayerischer Schulbuch-Verlag, Vol. 1, 4th ed., 1963, p. 8).

Another reason why a reconstruction with seven outer regions might be more probable than one with eight, is that the number seven seems to have had a preferred status: seven planets were known, there are seven major stars in the Big Dipper, Orion, and the Pleiades, seven days in a week, in Mesopotamian myths important actions are repeated seven times (e.g., in The Descent of Ishtar to the Underworld, or Nergal and Ereshkigal: see Myths from Mesopotamia, Stephanie Dalley (translation), Oxford: Oxford University Press, revised ed. 2008, pp. 159, 175). Etcetera.

The British Museum website description (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1882-0714-509) speaks of eight nagu. This number eight is apparently based on Horowitz' reading of the reverse side of the tablet (Mesop. Cosmic Geography, pp. 23-25): '... the first region (nagu)... the second region... [etc.] ... the eighth region [...]'. Note, however, that the numbers ('first' ... 'eighth'), except part of the number 'eighth', are hypothetical reconstructions of missing parts of the tablet. In addition, Horowitz notes that the text on the reverse side of the tablet need not necessarily refer to the map on the obverse side: "It is not certain if the text on the obverse and reverse was composed together with the map." (ibidem, p. 26)

To leave the choice to the reader, I have changed "eight" (triangles) into "seven or eight" (triangles). Hans van Deukeren (talk) 17:03, 12 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]