The zodiology 4QZodiology and Brontology ar (4Q318) 1 has been recognised as a calendar by several scholars. However, its method of functioning has hitherto been relatively unexplored, in contrast to the scholarship on the 364-day calendar traditions. 2 This paper will explain how the zodiology, or selenodromion, described as a "zodiacal calendar" by the official editors 3 and "a different calendrical system" by E. Tov, 4 is an intricate calendar, astronomically. We shall show that it is a working, schematic calendar that is related directly to the Jewish calendar in use today. The relationship between the zodiology and the brontologion will also be reassessed, based on new evidence. We shall also trace and identify the historical and cultural background of 4QZodiology and Brontology ar (4Q318) across the Classical world. The place of the Qumran zodiac calendar in the discourse on sectarianism is not discussed in depth in this essay.
This paper re-examines 4QcryptA Lunisolar Calendar (4Q317), a scroll from Qumran in an esoteric Hebrew script with many emendations that aligns the moon’s daily waxing and waning to a 364-day calendar. It seeks to ascertain whether the calendar may be exegetically related to the Creation and also discusses the text’s arithmetical relationships with the cycles of the priestly courses from Qumran, possible intertextual allusions to other lunar calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls (4QDaily Prayers [4Q503], 4QAstronomical Enocha–bar [4Q208–4Q209]), biblical passages, and parallels with another Mesopotamian calendar text. The first transcription of the largest fragments using a Cryptic A font is here published with a commentary (in the Appendix), focusing on the text’s unusual scribal features. A reconsideration of the calendar’s structure with a new arrangement of its dates is presented.
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