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Musings on the origin of the Ethiopian Book of Enoch

2015. július 08. - Bardócz

 

Bardócz-Tódor, András*

Budapest, Hungary

Musings on the origin of the Ethiopian Book of Enoch

Abstract.

The astronomical part of the Ethiopian Book of Enoch refers to an interesting phenomenon, namely the length of longest day of the year (summer solstice). This data is particularly significant in localizing this astronomical observation on the world map. Since the length of the longest day depends on geographical latitude, this data could hint at the latitude of the place, i.e. the approximate geographical location were the Book of Enoch may have been composed. A closer analysis of this reference surprisingly reveals that this place should be looked for somewhere near to latitude 500, that is far to north from Palestine, and even of Asia Minor.


Keywords:
Ethiopian Book of Enoch, the longest day of the year, astronomy

 

 

In the religious tradition Enoch was one of the first prophets. His name appears in two places in I. Moses. In Genesis 4,17 he is mentioned as the son of Cain: “Later, Cain had sexual relations with his wife. She became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain founded a city and named it after his son Enoch.” In Genesis 4,18: “Irad was born to Enoch. Irad fathered Mehujael, and Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech.” In turn, Genesis 5,18–24 tells about him as the son of Jared: “When Jared had lived 162 years, he fathered Enoch. After he fathered Enoch, Jared lived 800 years, fathering other sons and daughters. … When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. After he fathered Methuselah, Enoch communed with God for 300 years and fathered other sons and daughters. Enoch lived a total of 365 years, communing[a] with God—and then he was there no longer, because God had taken him.”[1]

The New Testament refers to him in several places: In Hebrews 11:5: “By faith Enoch was taken away without experiencing death. He could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he won approval as one who pleased God.”, in 1 Chronicles 1:3: “who fathered Enoch, who fathered Methuselah, who fathered Lamech” and in Luke 3:37: “the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan”

A text attributed to Enoch earlier was the part of the Holy Scriptures, but it is not part of the biblical canon yet. The Bible contains only a short passage from it in Jude 1,14: “Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied about these people when he said, “Look! The Lord has come with countless thousands of his holy ones.”[2]

 

 

Books of Enoch

Currently we know of three different, but closely related texts entitled “The Book of Enoch”, written in three different languages. One is written in Ethiopian, one is Slavonic and one is written in Hebrew. Although they differ considerably in style, and content, it may be hypothesized that they are all remaining fragments, explanations, or reformulation of some original ancient text.

 

In this article we try to fathom the content of this hypothetical original text. There are differing opinions as to the time when this original Book of Enoch may have been composed. However, there is general consensus that it originated somewhere in Palestine.[3] The various current Books of Enoch are believed to have evolved from this original through translations and copying. Although the Hebrew version is dated as the oldest manuscript and the Ethiopian one is the newest, when we examine the contents of the manuscripts it is clear that the Ethiopian one contains the oldest text. The Slavonic text in not very detailed, while the Hebrew is strongly mystical in nature.

 

Since the original ancient text has not survived, its content must be inferred from the existing books of Enoch. Where all the books discuss the same topic, it is perhaps not entirely unfounded to hypothesize that the text which has the greatest amount of detail is likely to be the closest to the original. It was on this basis, that we chose chapters 72–82. of the Ethiopian Book of Enoch as the subject of our further investigation. Chapters 72–82 are also known as “The book of the revolutions of the luminaries of heaven” and it is possibly the oldest and the most important part of the Books of Enoch, according to Fröhlich[4]

While the Hebrew manuscript is dated as the oldest one, researchers don’t think it to be the original ancient text. It is very possible that the content and wording of the newer specimens is closer to the original content. The previous comment by Ida Fröhlich also alludes to this possibility. We mention all of this because in the following, we will attempt to infer the possible place of origin of the text based on the contents of the Ethiopian version of the Book of Enoch, since by appealing to our earlier hypothesis, based on its greatest level of detail, we assume it to be closest to the unknown original manuscript in content.

The Ethiopic Book of Enoch 72,837

Astronomical principles are significant for our research, because they allow us to infer geographical information from astronomical observations, which are specific to the location where the observations were made, In other words, by analyzing astronomical information in the Book of Enoch, we may gain insight as to where the original text may have been composed. In Chapters 72,8-37, The Ethiopian Book of Enoch describes in great detail the variation in the lengths of days and nights: 8. When the sun rises in the heaven, he comes forth through that fourth portal thirty mornings in succession, and sets accurately in the fourth portal in the west of the heaven. 9. And during this period the day becomes daily longer and the night nightly shorter to the thirtieth morning. 10. On that day the day is longer than the night by a ninth part, and the day amounts exactly to ten parts and the night to eight parts. 11. And the sun rises from that fourth portal, and sets in the fourth and returns to the fifth portal of the east thirty mornings, and rises from it and sets in the fifth portal. 12. And then the day becomes longer by two parts and amounts to eleven parts, and the night becomes shorter and amounts to seven parts. 13. And it returns to the east and enters into the sixth portal, and rises and sets in the sixth portal one-and-thirty mornings on account of its sign. 14. On that day the day becomes longer than the night, and the day becomes double the night, and the day becomes twelve parts, and the night is shortened and becomes six parts. 15. And the sun mounts up to make the day shorter and the night longer, and the sun returns to the east and enters into the sixth portal, and rises from it and sets thirty mornings. 16. And when thirty mornings are accomplished, the day decreases by exactly one part, and becomes eleven parts, and the night seven. 17. And the sun goes forth from that sixth portal in the west, and goes to the east and rises in the fifth portal for thirty mornings, and sets in the west again in the fifth western portal. 18. On that day the day decreases by two parts, and amounts to ten parts and the night to eight parts. 19. And the sun goes forth from that fifth portal and sets in the fifth portal of the west, and rises in the fourth portal for one-and-thirty mornings on account of its sign, and sets in the west. 20. On that day the day is equalized with the night, [and becomes of equal length], and the night amounts to nine parts and the day to nine parts. 21. And the sun rises from that portal and sets in the west, and returns to the east and rises thirty mornings in the third portal and sets in the west in the third portal. 22. And on that day the night becomes longer than the day, and night becomes longer than night, and day shorter than day till the thirtieth morning, and the night amounts exactly to ten parts and the day to eight parts. 23. And the sun rises from that third portal and sets in the third portal in the west and returns to the east, and for thirty mornings rises in the second portal in the east, and in like manner sets in the second portal in the west of the heaven. 24. And on that day the night amounts to eleven parts and the day to seven parts. 25. And the sun rises on that day from that second portal and sets in the west in the second portal, and returns to the east into the first portal for one-and-thirty mornings, and sets in the first portal in the west of the heaven. 26. And on that day the night becomes longer and amounts to the double of the day: and the night amounts exactly to twelve parts and the day to six. 27. And the sun has (therewith) traversed the divisions of his orbit and turns again on those divisions of his orbit, and enters that portal thirty mornings and sets also in the west opposite to it. 28. And on that night has the night decreased in length by a ninth part, and the night has become eleven parts and the day seven parts. 29. And the sun has returned and entered into the second portal in the east, and returns on those his divisions of his orbit for thirty mornings, rising and setting. 30. And on that day the night decreases in length, and the night amounts to ten parts and the day to eight. 31. And on that day the sun rises from that portal, and sets in the west, and returns to the east, and rises in the third portal for one-and-thirty mornings, and sets in the west of the heaven. 32. On that day the night decreases and amounts to nine parts, and the day to nine parts, and the night is equal to the day and the year is exactly as to its days three hundred and sixty-four. 33. And the length of the day and of the night, and the shortness of the day and of the night arise--through the course of the sun these distinctions are made (lit. 'they are separated'). 34. So it comes that its course becomes daily longer, and its course nightly shorter. 35. And this is the law and the course of the sun, and his return as often as he returns sixty times and rises, i.e. the great luminary which is named the sun, for ever and ever. 36. And that which (thus) rises is the great luminary, and is so named according to its appearance, according as the Lord commanded. 37. As he rises, so he sets and decreases not, and rests not, but runs day and night, and his light is sevenfold brighter than that of the moon; but as regards size they are both equal.

The annual changes in the lengths of the days and nights are caused by spherical form of Earth and the declination, i.e. the tilt of the Earth’s axis of rotation relative to the plane of the orbit of the Earth. However, this was not yet known when the Book of Enoch was compiled. In the time of Herodotus, who lived in the fifth century B.C., the Earth was believed to have been shaped disc, with an infinite surface of water (the so called “Okeanos”) surrounding it. However, even in that time it was already known, that during the winter the Sun was driven nearer to the southern horizon, than during summer. Herodotus himself explained the cause as the effect of strong north-winds of winter.[5]

 

At the same time, the dependence of the change in the length of days and nights on geographical latitude was not conspicuous, because the Ancient world (or the “known world” at the time) was of a mainly east to west extent and was constrained in a relatively thin band of latitudes, around the Mediterranean Sea.

 

The Ancient Greek traveller Pytheas (4th century B. C.) made a longer journey beyond Gibraltar, towards northwest Europe. He was the first Greek to have reached north of Scotland, close to the arctic circle (to roughly 59o latitude), and found along his journey that in the summer, the days got longer as one traveled further to the north. This information was later incorporated into ancient geographical knowledge..

Later, in the 1st century B. C. Strabo has started to characterize the location of the northern countries by the length of their longest days. Of course, he was unable yet to explain the connection between location and the length of the longest day, even though he had himself already accepted the idea of a spherical Earth. For example, he stated that:

"Around Byzantion the length of the longest day is 15 1/4 equinoctial hours [...] In the country about 3800 stadia to the north of Byzantion the length of the longest day takes 16 equinoctial hours [...]. at about 6300 stadia to the north of Byzantion, to the north of Maiotis, in winter days, the Sun will rise up to 6 cubits, and the longest day is 17 equinoctial hours long [...]. The regions lying beyond that, which due to the cold are essentially uninhabited, are irrelevant from the geographers’ point of view. "[6]

Essentially, the latitude can be practically inferred from the length of the longest day. Although the length of the longest day characterizes the latitude, after half a year - because of the seasons change - the longest night, with the same length as the longest day, will occur. The day length is therefore constantly changing in a certain place. Thus, while the detailed record of the day lengths in the Book of Enoch was not intended to convey geographical information, but rather to describe the changes during the year, that they thought to be general all around the World, nonetheless, the information provides a possibility to find the location where the book was written. Let us now examine the day lengths in the Book of Enoch.

The most important detail for us is the following:

"14. On that day the day (once again) becomes longer than the night, and the day becomes double the night, and the day becomes twelve parts, and the night is shortened and becomes (merely) six parts." This otherwise unremarkable sentence is of key importance from the point of view of determining the place where the Book has written. It can be unambiguously shown that this ratio of longest day to shortest night can only occur near around 50 of geographical latitude. If we knew the exact length of the day, we would know exactly the geographical latitude. However, the day length is changing. In practice, if we give the day length in hours, it is less precise than if we were to give it in minutes, of course. In fact, the times of sunrise and sunset also depend on the terrain, and the phenomenon itself takes about 2 minutes, so we cannot consider accuracy at the level of minutes. Therefore, the length of the longest day can be determined only with a certain experimental accuracy. We would need to know the limits on the precision of time measurement of that time period, because that constrains the accuracy of our determinations of the latitude.

 

Regarding the time measurement of the time, we can start by noting that when the “sun rose from neighbouring portals”, the length of the days was 12 or 11 parts according to the text. To these were added respectively 6 or 7 parts of night. Thus a day appeared to be divided into 18 parts. In order to determine whether a day was 11 parts or 12 parts long, they must have been able to determine time to better than half a part. As they divided the 24 hour day into eighteen parts, each part takes 80 minutes. The authors of the Book therefore could determine the time with at worst 40 minutes accuracy. Therefore we can constrain the place of the composition of the Book to be in the band where the the deviation of the ratio of the longest day and the shortest night from 2:1 is at most 40 minutes . The corresponding latitudes should fall between 40 and 55 degrees.[7] If our assumption is correct, that the contents of the text are relevant to the place of the composition of the book, we will need to revise our current consensus of beliefs about the origins of the book, because neither Palestine (31o-33o) nor Babylon (32o-33o) meet the relevant criteria.

 

Believed area of the formation

 

The question then arises: where was the civilization, whose astronomical knowledge is described in the Ethiopian Book of Enoch located? As the day length is independent of geographical longitude, the location cannot be determined from the day length information alone. The latitude condition permits a vast area, and leaves an almost unlimited opportunity for the imagination. Asia Minor is situated in around 43o latitude and so could fit within the southern edge of the constrained area. However, a more northerly location may be more likely. Theoretically, this could be anywhere from the northern half of the Iberian Peninsula, to the southern border of Scotland, from Ankara to Moscow, from Beijing, to the Baikal lake, from the northern part of Japan to Kamchatka, or even at the frontier of Canada and the United States. It includes the northern part of the Carpathian Basin, Greece north of Athens, the surroundings of Diyarbakir in Turkey, the landscape of Central China, South Korea, and the former Sarmatian Empire. It may be somewhere along the lower reaches of the Volga, but on the basis of latitude Stonehenge (51o) cannot be ruled out either.

 

References

Fröhlich Ida – Dobos Károly Dániel (szerk.): Henok könyvei. Ford. Dobos Károly Dániel, Fröhlich Ida, Hollós Attila. Ószövetségi apokrifek 1. PPKE BTK, Piliscsaba 2009.

 

 

* retired astronomer and physics teacher

[1] ISV

[2] This is the part of Ethiop Book of Enoch 60,8.

[3] Dobos Károly Dániel: A fordító előszava Henok első könyvéhez. In: Fröhlich Ida – Dobos Károly Dániel (szerk.): Henok könyvei. Ford. Dobos Károly Dániel, Fröhlich Ida, Hollós Attila. Ószövetségi apokrifek 1. PPKE BTK, Piliscsaba 2009, 15–19.

[4] Fröhlich Ida: Bevezető Henok harmadik könyvéhez. in: Fröhlich Ida – Dobos Károly Dániel (szerk.): Henok könyvei. Ford. Dobos Károly Dániel, Fröhlich Ida, Hollós Attila. Ószövetségi apokrifek 1. PPKE BTK, Piliscsaba 2009, (233–241) 233.

[5] http://classics.mit.edu/Herodotus/history.2.ii.html

[6] Sztrabón: Geógraphika, II. 3,41–43.

[7] A simple calculation can lead to this result, which is well known in spherical astronomy: We view the Earth within the shadow boundary at solstice when the axis of rotation is equal to the declination angle. If at ϕ degrees of latitude the length of the arc for night is 2α, then the ratio of day to night is: (360o-2α):2α which in our case must equal 2. Hence 360o/2α = 3. If we use units where the radius of the Earth is 1, then the radius of the circle of latitude is cosϕ. Hence the distance of of the points with the appropriate day/night ratio, from the axis of rotation will be cos ϕcosα. From this the distance of the circle of latitude to the plane of the equator is the co-tangent of the angle of declination, multiplied by cos ϕcosα. Hence the required relationship is: sin ϕ = cot(23.5o) cosϕ cosα, whence tan ϕ = cot(23.5o) cosα. Since 360o/2α = 3, we have α = 60 and cos α = (1/2) and hence tan ϕ = (1/2) cot(23.5o) = 1.15. Finally, we get ϕ = 49. These days we may also find data relating to the times of sunrisee or sunset more or less anywhere in the world on the Internet)

 

 

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