40. An Open End

Babylonian astronomy and related fields are a neglected branch of history. Thousands of tablets lie untranslated in museum archives, and presumably many more are still buried throughout the Near East. The cache of tablets is enormous (considering their age) because most were written on clay, which is cheap, durable and easy to inscribe.

The texts enable an in depth study of Mesopotamia through contemporary writings. The Diaries are a good place to begin the study of early written history.

The next section eases the committed amateur into naked eye astronomy, the Babylonian way.