In the fifth tablet of Enûma Eliš, a Babylonian Creation Epic the cycle of the moon is described, beginning with the lunar crescent and ending with the new moon1. The cycle is set in out what is known as an ideal month containing thirty days. Unfortunately for the Babylonians mean month set out by a lunar cycle is 29.5 days long. As this creates a problem with syncing solar phases with seasons the tropical year, the real lunar month were used where a new month was indicated by a crescent moon rather than following a thirty day cycle. With the ability to predict the moon's first visibility in the first millennium, Steele asks the question whether the calculated cycle replaced the observed one in day to day life1.
This is answered by evidence found in correspondence between the king and his advisors. During the 7th century BC, a group of texts called hemerologies were used to advise on when certain activities can be undertaken and used the observed lunisolar
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Steele describes a system of time intervals known as the 'lunar six' used systematically to record lunar observations such as height in relation to the sun and the time interval between sunset and moonset1. Steele also mentions there is no evidence for 'predominance of 30day months in the winter,' and hypothesises that this would be expected if 'standard practice was to assume' 30days in a month if no moon was observed. He draws the conclusion that because both 30 and 29day months were used, the texts relied on predictions to also announce a new month. He finds evidence for this in the Astronomical Diary where the moon was not seen due to weather conditions with implications that a 29day month was still announced due to the predicted citing of the moon. This ability to predict lunar cycles comes from the use of a Saros