4 ms·
The idea that a list of kings from 4000 years ago would encodé global climate events for over 240.000 years is completely ludicrous. Astrology has a better grou
by poulpy123 2mo ago
The idea that a list of kings from 4000 years ago would encodé global climate events for over 240.000 years is completely ludicrous. Astrology has a better grounding on reality than this idea.
And the fact that all lengths are multiple of 600, is even more telling knowing that they counted in base 60
- jdthedisciple 2mo ago> And the fact that all lengths are multiple of 600 I know this must somehow explain the giant numbers but I'm still not sure how precisely. Counting in base 60 would make for much smaller numbers, no ? For example, the number 16 in base 2 is 1111. but in base 10 it is 16. Ergo smaller base, larger number, and vice versa. So did you mean to say they counted in units that are made of 1/600 of our solar years? I think that would make more sense, putting their reigns between 31-72 years of our counting.
- Laurel1234 2mo ago[dead]
- bell-cot 2mo agoNot to nibble at your point, but 16 is 10000 in base 2. 1111 is 15.
- rhdunn 2mo agoThe reasoning is that 600 is 60x10 which is conflating base 60 and base 10 numbering systems. You would expect something like 3600 (60x60), or even (given things like our units of time) 720 (60x12). The latter is because 12 is a factor of 60 and is easier to work with in that number system/base.
- TSiege 2mo agoIf this was the case why do the kings that come after this on the list have normal human reigns?
- MachineMan 2mo agoReality is stranger than fiction.
- pestatije 2mo agocurrent kings live very long lives due to the stability in their environment... not what used to happen in the middle ages for instance
- peterfirefly 2mo agoIt sometimes happened: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramesses_II https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramesses_II
- dented42 2mo agoWho cares if it’s ludicrous? It’s a fun idea!
- readthenotes1 2mo agoThat it's ludicrous makes the effort more interesting!
- nlehuen 2mo agoWhile they were at it they should have explored whether those kings were actually the cause of those global climate events. You never know, with enough slicing, dicing and p-hacking you can get interesting conclusions :)
- dgellow 2mo ago[dead]
- huurtehoog 2mo agoMost likely explanation is we're misreading some antique number system. Our interpretation of Sumerian numbering is tentative at best. The major indicator for accuracy was that early on a few different scholars converged on the same translation for the same tablets so we trust we got it right. The mathematical and astronomical tablet texts we have of Mesopotamia, where we understand the numbering very well, are much later, in Babylonian Akkadian from the 5th century BCE. Could be a simple misunderstanding as interpreting something that was intended to be metaphorically read as "quite a long time". Like myriad - literal translations might yield Chinese historical texts claiming unlikely numbers in multiples of 10.000 when the author might have intended to say just "very, very large number, beyond what we have seen around here in living memory".
- cineticdaffodil 2mo ago[dead]
- TSiege 2mo agoThe most likely explanation is that we are treating the list too literally. This list is at least 4000 years old and we do not have the cultural context to understand what it's intent was
- huurtehoog 2mo agoYes this is a more concise and less informative version of what I said. I thought my perspective would be interesting since I held 4000 year old tablets in my hands and studied with Assyriologists at the top of the field but what do I know?
- SauciestGNU 2mo agoSo funny thing, I just learned about the king list yesterday. The king list was compiled during the Akkadian restoration of Sumer. It is believed that the king list was compiled in order to provide a through line from ancient Sumerian rulers to the (at the time) contemporary Akkadian-origin king.
- lukan 2mo agoI don't think the auhor belived the hypothesis, but this was just a fun experiment with data.
- cineticdaffodil 2mo ago[dead]
- trencedamp 2mo agoBase SIXTY?
- IAmBroom 1mo agoYes, like modern-day clocks.