Dr. Moudhy Al-Rashid

You know, we know that there's only a certain number of colors that an eclipse can look like, and that's mainly red or no color, maybe orange sometimes. But they would apply a couple of other colors to these that were impossible, and they used these kind of ordered ways of expanding upon something they did observe.

So they're not making up phenomena, they're just modifying existing possible phenomena in these ways to generate all possible outcomes. in order to allow their omens to cover more ground essentially.

So they're not making up phenomena, they're just modifying existing possible phenomena in these ways to generate all possible outcomes. in order to allow their omens to cover more ground essentially.

So they're not making up phenomena, they're just modifying existing possible phenomena in these ways to generate all possible outcomes. in order to allow their omens to cover more ground essentially.

And these omens would have been used by decision makers like kings who needed to know whether it was safe to go to war at a particular time of year or whether they should undertake a journey or if there was an eclipse, And it foretold the death of the king.

And these omens would have been used by decision makers like kings who needed to know whether it was safe to go to war at a particular time of year or whether they should undertake a journey or if there was an eclipse, And it foretold the death of the king.

And these omens would have been used by decision makers like kings who needed to know whether it was safe to go to war at a particular time of year or whether they should undertake a journey or if there was an eclipse, And it foretold the death of the king.

Then the king had to go into hiding for a couple of months, and someone would be put in his place and pretend to be the king while the bad omen passed. And just to be absolutely sure that the king would be safe, they would then kill that person at the end of the few-month period. And this person would sort of sign up, and this wasn't a foreplay. Okay.

Then the king had to go into hiding for a couple of months, and someone would be put in his place and pretend to be the king while the bad omen passed. And just to be absolutely sure that the king would be safe, they would then kill that person at the end of the few-month period. And this person would sort of sign up, and this wasn't a foreplay. Okay.

Then the king had to go into hiding for a couple of months, and someone would be put in his place and pretend to be the king while the bad omen passed. And just to be absolutely sure that the king would be safe, they would then kill that person at the end of the few-month period. And this person would sort of sign up, and this wasn't a foreplay. Okay.

Yeah, it's pretty terrible. I mean, I think some people have argued that actually maybe for some people, you know, living like a king for three months might be the ultimate kind of, but I don't know that I would ever feel that way. True, maybe. So yeah, so they really took these omens seriously, and they generated them in really, really systematic ways.

Yeah, it's pretty terrible. I mean, I think some people have argued that actually maybe for some people, you know, living like a king for three months might be the ultimate kind of, but I don't know that I would ever feel that way. True, maybe. So yeah, so they really took these omens seriously, and they generated them in really, really systematic ways.

Yeah, it's pretty terrible. I mean, I think some people have argued that actually maybe for some people, you know, living like a king for three months might be the ultimate kind of, but I don't know that I would ever feel that way. True, maybe. So yeah, so they really took these omens seriously, and they generated them in really, really systematic ways.

It wasn't just a completely random collection of fake observations. They were grounded in empiricism, but then they were extrapolated in really, really specific ways.

It wasn't just a completely random collection of fake observations. They were grounded in empiricism, but then they were extrapolated in really, really specific ways.

It wasn't just a completely random collection of fake observations. They were grounded in empiricism, but then they were extrapolated in really, really specific ways.

Exactly. They're sort of internally kind of consistent with each other and the methods they use are agreed upon. And there's like a rule following that these scholars used in generating and writing these down, which is really interesting. But what gets us more science-y in a way, or science in the way that we might understand it today, which is not necessarily the pinnacle of how we might

Exactly. They're sort of internally kind of consistent with each other and the methods they use are agreed upon. And there's like a rule following that these scholars used in generating and writing these down, which is really interesting. But what gets us more science-y in a way, or science in the way that we might understand it today, which is not necessarily the pinnacle of how we might

Exactly. They're sort of internally kind of consistent with each other and the methods they use are agreed upon. And there's like a rule following that these scholars used in generating and writing these down, which is really interesting. But what gets us more science-y in a way, or science in the way that we might understand it today, which is not necessarily the pinnacle of how we might

understand science in the ancient world, but is the way that the omens were applied involved a lot of empirical observation. So moving into the first millennium BCE with the rise of Assyria, which was the largest empire the world had ever known up to that point, covering from