jwposter:
So as you can see both text had the same problem. Since the Moon is actually BEHIND and not in FRONT of.
(Actually in this particular case the newer translation says B Virginis, and the observation is corrected by noting that the day is actually one day off, already noted in the 1915 translation. But there are similar issues for lines 11 and 14 so we’ll let it slide…)
Note the hypocritical inconsistency. For his own position with its blundering interpretations of other observations in VAT 4956 (not to mention the rest of his nonsense), he jumps through hoops to try to justify problems, or simply ignores problems altogether. From using a wrong definition of ‘in front’ or ‘behind’ as ‘closer to west on a compass’, to claiming identification of the solstice ‘really’ means ‘start looking for the solstice 3 weeks before’, to claiming ‘Mars entering Praesepe’ was backwardly identified despite the fact there is no corresponding observation in his own nutty interpretation at all, to completely ignoring most of the planetary observations altogether…
But when the tablet has some (actually a total of 3) minor inconsistencies in wording for observations among literally dozens of correct matches for 568/7 BCE? ‘568 must be wrong’. 🤦♂️ VAT 4956 is expected to be perfect when he says so, but wrong or misinterpreted when convenient.
The cognitive dissonance is beyond disgusting.