many series of documents which related exclusively to the astrology of
the ancient Babylonians, who in turn had borrowed it with modifications
from the Sumerian invaders of the country. Among these must be mentioned
the series which was commonly called 'the Day of Bel,' and which was
decreed by the learned to have been written in the time of the great
Sargon I., king of Agade, 3800 B.C. With such ancient works as these to
guide them, the profession of deducing omens from daily events reached
such a pitch of importance in the last Assyrian Empire that a system
of making periodical reports came into being. By these the king was
informed of all the occurrences in the heavens and on earth, and the
results of astrological studies in respect to after events. The heads
of the astrological profession were men of high rank and position, and
their office was hereditary. The variety of information contained in
these reports is best gathered from the fact that they were sent from
cities as far removed from each other as Assur in the north and Erech
in the south, and it can only be assumed that they were despatched
by runners, or men mounted on swift horses. As reports also came from
Dilbat, Kutba, Nippur, and Bursippa, all cities of ancient foundation,
the king was probably well acquainted with the general course of events
in his empire."(12)

From certain passages in the astrological tablets, Thompson draws the
interesting conclusion that the Chaldean astronomers were acquainted
with some kind of a machine for reckoning time. He finds in one of the
tablets a phrase which he interprets to mean measure-governor, and
he infers from this the existence of a kind of a calculator. He calls
attention also to the fact that Sextus Empiricus(13) states that the
clepsydra was known to the Chaldeans, and that Herodotus asserts that
the Greeks borrowed certain measures of time from the Babylonians.
He finds further corroboration in the fact that the Babylonians had
a time-measure by which they divided the day and the night; a measure
called kasbu, which contained two hours. In a report relating to the day
of the vernal equinox, it is stated that there are six kasbu of the day
and six kasbu of the night.

While the astrologers deduced their omens from all the celestial bodies
known to them, they chiefly gave attention to the moon, noting with
great care the shape of its horns, and deducing such a conclusion
as that "if the horns are pointed the