Babylonian astronomy

The first civilisation known to possess a functional theory of the planets were the Babylonians, who lived in Mesopotamia in the first and second millennia BC. The oldest surviving planetary astronomical text is the Babylonian Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa, a 7th century BC copy of a list of observations of the motions of the planet Venus that probably dates as early as the second millennium BC.^[11] The Babylonian astrologers also laid the foundations of what would eventually become Western astrology.^[12] The Enuma anu enlil, written during the Neo-Assyrian period in the 7th century BC,^[13] comprises a list of omens and their relationships with various celestial phenomena including the motions of the planets.^[14]

The Sumerians, predecessors of the Babylonians who are considered as one of the first civilizations and are credited with the invention of writing, had identified at least Venus by 1500 BC.^[15] Shortly afterwards, the other inner planet Mercury and the outer planets Mars, Jupiter and Saturn were all identified by Babylonian astronomers. These would remain the only known planets until the invention of the telescope in early modern times.^[16]