BABYLONIA 1.3 can compute almost everything in the BABYLONIAN CALENDAR, in BABYLONIAN ASTRONOMY and ASTROLOGY!
It is on CD and runs on Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows XP.
Click to see the program's opening screen.
THE PROGRAM AND THE BOOK ARE WRITTEN IN AGREEMENT WITH THE AUTHORITIES IN THE FIELD (Kugler, Schoch, Van der Waerden, Neugebauer, Sachs, Rochberg...)
Among the things computed:
1. The Heliacal Phases of the Moon and the planets (New Crescent, Last Crescent, Acronychal Rise, Cosmic Setting, Morning First, Morning Last....) These can be printed out and the dates come both: Gregorian and Babylonian.
2. The ArcusVisionis for the Moon and the planets for every day you want - for rise and setting.
3. The magnitudes, and all coordinates (including helio), perihelion, aphelion... for any time.
4. Conversion between Gregorian and Babylonian date
5. Some parameters like the 'na' of the Cosmic Setting and Acronychal Rise of the Moon, the ArcusVisionis of the New Crescent and the Last Crescent...
6. Automatic conversion between Seleucid, Nabonassar, Arsacid, Darius, Artaxerxes I & II and Gregorian (Astronomical) dates. You can input date and time directly in Babylonian Calendar!
7. Easy to work with and very, very visual
+++ many other things...
The program computes the heliacal rising and phases of the planets according to the Babylonian theory A (to my knowledge) which I have found correct from my personal observations for the last 2 years.
The data given by the program is almost 100% identical with the data from the cuneiform horoscope texts. I made a special database with all cuneiform horoscopes given by Francesca Rochberg in her study 'Babylonian Horoscopes'. It's amazing to compare the data from the cuneiform texts and the program: almost 100% convergence!
( PURPOSE AND BASIS of the program 'Babylonia' )
1. To compute the (most likely dates of the) real, practically observed heliacal phases of the planets and the Moon. Good visibility and average eyesight assumed.
Click to see calculated phases for Venus.
2. To compute the Babylonian Calendar for any place where it can be valid (latitudes less than 66). Only second Addar is added (no second Ulul). [Was this not the astronomical practice (not the administrative) in Babylon??!] 1st of Nisan is the first NewCrescent with Sun in tropical Aries.
3. To give useful astronomical information helping the eventual observer. (Here are the azimuths and the arcus visionis at rise and set of the planets, the time when the Sun reaches -18, -16... degrees below horizon and so on...for any chosen day...)
4. In short, the purpose of the program is to help everyone who wants to watch the sky the babylonian-way (with unaided eyes observing the heliacal phases and the beauty of the sunrise and the sunset)
Click to see a graphic 2D map of the planets in the sky and constellations.
1. Schoch's Oxford tables (for arcus visionis of the planets)
2. the astronomical algorithms propagated by Jean Meuus (VSOP 87).
3. My own observations for 2 years that so far closely agree with the values of Schoch (for the planets and the Moon).
It can compute also something very important for any astrologer: this program has a module for computation of the faster primary directions to angles.
Click to see a list of dates when the planets contact natal angles by primary direction calculations.
These are 4 kinds:
- 1 babylonian day = 12 babylonian years
- 1 babylonian day = 1 babylonian year
- 1 babylonian day = 1 babylonian month
- 1 babylonian month = 1 babylonian year
For comparison, the ordinary primary directions that you know are roughly: 1 day = 360 years (key of Ptolemy)
The program can compute also the ordinary primaries of planets to angles (1 day = 360 years OR 4 minutes(1 degree) = 1 year). So, this module can be of service to pinpoint the peak of the influence of the ordinary primaries.
Suppose you have a primary direction Jupiter to the Asc. falling in Oct. 2000. Then you look with the faster primaries when you will have Jupiter to the asc, mc or desc.
Suppose with the key 1 babylonian day = 1 babylonian year you have Jupiter to asc on sep 12 2000, and with the key 1 babylonian day = 1 babylonian month: sep 15 2000, then the peak of influence will be around sep 15 2000.
In short, these faster directions may enable the astrologer to pinpoint the exact time of influence of a primary direction with the exactness of a day!!!
I checked these directions on several charts (my own too) with past events and now I can say that they work perfectly - much better than I expected. I pinpointed several events in my own chart and another person with the exactness of one day looking first at the ordinary primaries and then at the faster primaries with the same planet.
1. The dates of the program for the Babylonian Calendar and the heliacal phases of the planets agree extremely well with the dates from the cuneiform texts (-600 to 0 mainly checked out).
2. The heliacal phases of the planets (by the program) agree best with cuneiform texts with proven theory A descent.
1. My practical observations are for the Moon, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn. To a lesser extent for Mercury and Mars.
2. More work is needed (in the eventual future versions) on the heliacal phases of Mercury, Mars and the stars. (Because the magnitudes of Mars and Mercury in one and the same heliacal phase, but different heliacal cycles, are considerably different due to their greater eccentricity of orbit. This may have impact on their respective arcus visionis. So, the heliacal dates for these planets, produced by the program, are somewhat for orientation purposes mainly).
The price of Babylonia plus the actual book is $150.00.
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