Panbabylonism (also known as Panbabylonianism) was the school of thought that considered the cultures and religions of the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

and civilization in general to be ultimately derived from Babylonian myths which in turn they viewed as being based on

Babylonian astronomy Babylonian astronomy was the study or recording of celestial objects during the early history of Mesopotamia. The numeral system used, sexagesimal, was based on 60, as opposed to ten in the modern decimal system. This system simplified the ca ...

, often in hidden ways.

Overview

A related school of thought is the Bible-Babel school, which regarded the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

to be directly derived from Mesopotamian (Babylonian) mythology; both are forms of hyperdiffusionism in archaeology. Both theories were popular in Germany, and Panbabylonism remained popular from the late 19th century to

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Prominent advocates included

Friedrich Delitzsch Friedrich Delitzsch (; 3 September 1850 – 19 December 1922) was a German Assyriologist. He was the son of Lutheran theologian Franz Delitzsch (1813–1890). Born in Erlangen, he studied in Leipzig and Berlin, gaining his habilitation in 1874 as ...

, Peter Jensen, Alfred Jeremias and Hugo Winckler. Panbabylonist thought largely disappeared from legitimate scholarship after the death of one of its greatest proponents, Hugo Winckler. The claims of the school were largely discredited by astronomical and chronological arguments of

Franz Xaver Kugler Franz Xaver Kugler (27 November 1862 – 25 January 1929) was a German chemist, mathematician, Assyriology, Assyriologist, and Jesuit priest.. Kugler was born in Neustadt an der Weinstraße, Königsbach, Palatinate (region), Palatinate, then ...

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

priest).Jong, Teije de. ''Babylonian Astronomy 1880-1950: The Players and the Field''. In Alexander Jones, Christine Proust, John M. Steele. (2016). ''A Mathematician's Journeys: Otto Neugebauer and Modern Transformations of Ancient Science''. Springer. pp. 285-286. Bm-epic-g

References

{{Reflist

External links

Panbabylonism
New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2003.

by Gary D. Thompson. Assyriology Babylonia Biblical criticism Comparative mythology Judaism and other religions Mesopotamian mythology Fringe theories Obsolete scientific theories Hyperdiffusionism History of religion studies Theological controversies

Overview

See also

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Further reading

External links