Another class of the priesthood, which we may infer was under the king's
direct control, was the astrologers, whose duty it probably was to make
reports to the king of the conjunctions of the heavenly bodies, with a
view to ascertaining whether they portended good or evil to the
state. No astrological reports written in this early period have
been recovered, but at a later period under the Assyrian empire the
astrologers reported regularly to the king on such matters, and it is
probable that the practice was one long established. One of Hammurabi's
letters proves that the king regulated the calendar, and it is
legitimate to suppose that he sought the advice of his astrologers as
to the times when intercalary months were to be inserted. The letter
dealing with the calendar was written to inform Sin-idinnam, the
governor of Larsam, that an intercalary month was to be inserted. "Since
the year (i.e. the calendar) hath a deficiency," he writes, "let the
month which is now beginning be registered as a second Elul," and the
king adds that this insertion of an extra month will not justify any
postponement in the payment of the regular tribute due from the city of
Larsam, which had to be paid a month earlier than usual to make up for
the month that was inserted. The intercalation of additional months
was due to the fact that the Babylonian months were lunar, so that the
calendar had to be corrected at intervals to make it correspond to the
solar year.
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