I present my new speculation of mine concerning the first Creation story in Genesis. This is the Creation story which divides the Creation of the world into seven days.
The seven days of Creation symbolize the spring-neap cycle of the tides near Babylon and Nineveh. The Sumerians would have be aware of the spring-neap cycle because the Euphrates is a tidal river. In fact, the Creation story itself specifies the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris river. The farmers in that area would have to take the spring-neap tide cycle into account.
Here is an background of the spring-neap-cycle. The 'spring' tide is the day when the difference in height between high tide and low tide is greatest. This occurs when the moon is either on the same side or the opposite side of the earth from the sun. That is the time of greatest fluctuation in water height.
The spring-neap tide cycle is also called the fortnightly cycle. However, the fortnight is a full period of the cycle. The fortnight is the time between consequetive highest high tides. The modern day week corresponds to a half-cycle of the 'fortnightly cycle'.
The usual translation of Genesis says that God separates the earth from the ocean. However, I conjecture that God is describing the low tide in the spring part of the cycle cycle, where lots of land is exposed. The earth is exposed on the second day due to the tide. Thus, the translation should be 'high waters' and 'low waters' rather than heaven and earth.
The seventh day is designated a day of rest because it is in the neap part of the cycle. The height difference between high and low tide is at a minimum. So this is when the water is basically at rest.
The separation of the Great Light (sol) from the Little Light (selene) occurs on the third day. This may refer to the full and new moons. There is a time delay between the spring tide and either the full or new moon due to the effect of land masses. If there were no land masses, this delay would be zero. So maybe the writer (Writer?) lived in a place where this time delay was exactly three days.
The last is something that in principle can be checked, although I don't know how to do so easily. Since the story specifies the junction of Tigris and Euphrates, there should be a tide table which tell us when the spring tide occurs in this area. There are also tables which tell us when the full and new moons occur. The story was evidently written at a time when the two rivers were joined, so the geography hasn't changed very much since that time. Therefore, the time delay in this region may 'experimentally' determined.
Does anyone have a tide table for rivers in Iraq ?-)
The sixth day would be a good day to make clay or mud sculptures on the river bank. The sixth day occurs very close to the neap tide. The tidal difference is at a minimum, so the sculptor (Sculptor?) doesn't have to worry about his sculpture being washed away immediately.
The part about animals coming out of the ground and air may refer to the animals that thrive in tidal pools. At some point of the spring-neap cycle, the beach is a great place for clam digging and crab catching. Birds would come to eat this transitional fauna.
My conjecture is that the Hebrews and Sumerians eventually associated the seven ancient planets with the seven days. The neap tide became associated with the planet Saturn because Saturn is the slowest moving planet they could see.
Saturdays in very ancient times correlated with the neap tide. This is why 'Saturday' is named after the planet Saturn. Saturday probably doesn't correlate with the neap tide today because there were lots geographical changes that can cause a phase shift. However, it would be interesting to see if Saturday still correlates with the neap tide of the Euphrates. This can also be checked 'experimentally'.
Four questions:
1) Has any other scholar that you know presented this hypothesis?
2) What do you think of this conjecture?
3) Does anyone out there have a current tide table for the Euphrates river?
4) Can anyone determine the tide tables and the lunar tables both now and for a period of time thousands of years ago?
All insults should be directed at the conjecture, not at the author who presents it. Skepticism is welcome. Cynicism is not.
The seven days of Creation symbolize the spring-neap cycle of the tides near Babylon and Nineveh. The Sumerians would have be aware of the spring-neap cycle because the Euphrates is a tidal river. In fact, the Creation story itself specifies the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris river. The farmers in that area would have to take the spring-neap tide cycle into account.
Here is an background of the spring-neap-cycle. The 'spring' tide is the day when the difference in height between high tide and low tide is greatest. This occurs when the moon is either on the same side or the opposite side of the earth from the sun. That is the time of greatest fluctuation in water height.
The spring-neap tide cycle is also called the fortnightly cycle. However, the fortnight is a full period of the cycle. The fortnight is the time between consequetive highest high tides. The modern day week corresponds to a half-cycle of the 'fortnightly cycle'.
The usual translation of Genesis says that God separates the earth from the ocean. However, I conjecture that God is describing the low tide in the spring part of the cycle cycle, where lots of land is exposed. The earth is exposed on the second day due to the tide. Thus, the translation should be 'high waters' and 'low waters' rather than heaven and earth.
The seventh day is designated a day of rest because it is in the neap part of the cycle. The height difference between high and low tide is at a minimum. So this is when the water is basically at rest.
The separation of the Great Light (sol) from the Little Light (selene) occurs on the third day. This may refer to the full and new moons. There is a time delay between the spring tide and either the full or new moon due to the effect of land masses. If there were no land masses, this delay would be zero. So maybe the writer (Writer?) lived in a place where this time delay was exactly three days.
The last is something that in principle can be checked, although I don't know how to do so easily. Since the story specifies the junction of Tigris and Euphrates, there should be a tide table which tell us when the spring tide occurs in this area. There are also tables which tell us when the full and new moons occur. The story was evidently written at a time when the two rivers were joined, so the geography hasn't changed very much since that time. Therefore, the time delay in this region may 'experimentally' determined.
Does anyone have a tide table for rivers in Iraq ?-)
The sixth day would be a good day to make clay or mud sculptures on the river bank. The sixth day occurs very close to the neap tide. The tidal difference is at a minimum, so the sculptor (Sculptor?) doesn't have to worry about his sculpture being washed away immediately.
The part about animals coming out of the ground and air may refer to the animals that thrive in tidal pools. At some point of the spring-neap cycle, the beach is a great place for clam digging and crab catching. Birds would come to eat this transitional fauna.
My conjecture is that the Hebrews and Sumerians eventually associated the seven ancient planets with the seven days. The neap tide became associated with the planet Saturn because Saturn is the slowest moving planet they could see.
Saturdays in very ancient times correlated with the neap tide. This is why 'Saturday' is named after the planet Saturn. Saturday probably doesn't correlate with the neap tide today because there were lots geographical changes that can cause a phase shift. However, it would be interesting to see if Saturday still correlates with the neap tide of the Euphrates. This can also be checked 'experimentally'.
Four questions:
1) Has any other scholar that you know presented this hypothesis?
2) What do you think of this conjecture?
3) Does anyone out there have a current tide table for the Euphrates river?
4) Can anyone determine the tide tables and the lunar tables both now and for a period of time thousands of years ago?
All insults should be directed at the conjecture, not at the author who presents it. Skepticism is welcome. Cynicism is not.
via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/1AlCJdH
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