before 2600BC, Thuban (Alpha Draconis) near the Big Dipper was closer to the north celestial pole and was thus the “North Star” then and thus the Big Dipper would have rotated through a smaller circle than present day - and to find north one would look for the 7 stars of the Big Dipper

or it could be 7 moving celestial objects sun, moon and the 5 actual naked eye planets once the morning and evening stars were recognized to be the same mercury and venus late in Sumerian civilization

2600BC: Gudea, able priest-king of Lagash, built a seven-roomed lower temple and dedicated it to a seven-day festival. He made a seven-eyed weapon with 7 meaning the fullness of power.

7 day periods were mentioned in the Gilgamesh

in addition to the “mid-month” day 15 full moon Sabbath (when the moon rested), the Assyro-Babylonians recognised an evil or unfavorable day when restrictions were imposed on activities - these came on days 7, 14, 21 and 28th of the month as well as the 19th day of intercalary months as 7×7 = 49 and 19 is the 49th day since the start of the preceding month. The phrase new moon and sabbath recurs in the Old Testament suggesting the sabbath was still the full moon at early stages of the Bible ⁴⁾

Sargon I, King of Akkad, in 2350BC after the conquer of UR would have the 1st documented 7 day week

worshiped in Sumer at least as early as the Uruk period (c. 4000 BCE – 3100 BCE), and her cultic activity was relatively localized before the conquest of Sargon of Akkad. During the post-Sargonic era, she became one of the most widely venerated deities in the Sumerian pantheon.

may have been associated with a variety of sexual rites, which were continued by the East Semitic-speaking peoples (Akkadians, Assyrians and Babylonians) who succeeded and absorbed the Sumerians in the region

especially beloved by the Assyrians, who elevated her to become the highest deity in their pantheon, ranking above their own national god Ashur.

greatly influenced the Ugaritic goddess Ashtart and later the Phoenician goddess Astarte, who in turn possibly influenced the development of the Greek goddess Aphrodite.

symbols included the lion and the eight-pointed star

husband was the god Dumuzid (later known as Tammuz), and her sukkal (attendant) was the goddess Ninshubur, later conflated with the male deities Ilabrat and Papsukkal.

known by the Akkadian Empire, Babylonians, and Assyrians as Ishtar

was also worshipped by the Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and Hurrians - name was changed to Ellil by the Babylonians

the Phoenician counterpart to El was the god, Dagon.

El (and later Ba'al) was associated with bulls and oxen as a sign of divinity

during the Babylonian reign of Hammurabi (1792-1750 BCE), Babylonians absorbed and assimilated into the storm god Marduk, Marduk would later become Zeus in Greek mythology

in an Akkadian myth, he was the champion of the gods against the Anzû bird after it stole the Tablet of Destinies from his father Enlil

the god Ninĝirsu, who was worshipped in the Sumerian city-state of Girsu, was identified as a local form of Ninurta

second only to the goddess Inanna, Ninurta probably appears in more myths than any other Mesopotamian deity

in the 8-9thC BC, Ninurta has variously been associated with Sagittarius, Canis Major and Sirius, and Mercury (later associated with the god Nabu), and later, the planet Saturn

it seems each administrative 30-day month may have been divided into two 15-day halves, and of each half into two “weeks” of 7-8 days; Extra months were added as needed possibly every 3 years to keep sun and moon years in sync.

this would be used as the basis for later Babylonian calendars which became lunar months (average 29.5 days) with each new month starting on the 1st crescent moon, and additional month of the year was added as needed

code of laws written in Akkadian, a semitic tongue (Sumerian used for religious purposes)

created an ephemeral empire

Hammurabi's dynasty falls at the destruction of Babylon by an attack by the Hittite king Mursilis I in 1595BC allowing the Kassite dynasty to rule for 576yrs resulting in the dark ages of Babylon.

built hypostyle hall at Karnak, colossus of himself at Luxor, Ramesseum mortuary temple at Thebes, great temple of Abu Simbel in Nubia.

constructed city of Pi-Ramesse, his northern capital, possibly using Hebrew slaves

the burial places of the pharoahs were plundered, many of the mummies were thus taken to secret hiding places in caves

in the middle of the 5thC BC a Sicel leader, Ducetius, was able to create an organised Sicel state as a unitary domain in opposition to Greek Syracusa, including several cities in the central and south of the island, however, he was soon defeated by the Greeks at Nomae in 450 BC.

in the Siege of Syracusa 415-413BC, Sicels sided with the invading Athenian forces who were fighting the allied states of Syracusa, Sparta and Corinth in the Pelopennisian Wars - the Athenians suffered a devastating loss in their “Sicilian Expedition” and this was essentially the beginning of the end for Athens, and in 404BC Athens was defeated and occupied by Sparta.

removed the Philistine threat for power and gained control from Syria to north Egypt

David's son, set up a court after the manner of other oriental monarchs.

built a palace and the great Temple in Jerusalem, and overtaxed the resources of the country for his luxurious programs.

whilst many were monotheistic since Abraham, many were polytheistic until the 6thC BC when the far majority became monotheistic after the “discovery” of the newly written Book of Deuteronomy re-telling the story of Moses, which banned worship of other Gods, creating a major religious revolution and allowed Josiah to unify the peoples of Judah with the peoples to the north. A key event enabling this was, for the 1st time, a marked rise in public literacy.

the dynasty of David continued until the Babylonians took the country (597 and 586 BC)

captives were carried off to Babylon on both occasions.

The priests exiled to the rivers of Babylon, led by Ezra added further texts to allow the peoples to have a unifying religion despite the destruction of Jerusalem, the death of their king and the loss of their lands.

the exiled people with their new Bible were given reason for why God had allowed them to be exiled as punishment and gave them hope if they changed their ways, transforming the ancient Israelite beliefs into Judaism. 

were set free from Babylon in 538 BC, when the Persian king Cyrus established the Persian Empire.

the prophets Ezra (Atarxerxes) & Nehemiah were leaders in the era after the exile when institutions were re-established and the Temple was rebuilt. Judah became a province of the Persian Empire, and the people had relative autonomy, especially in religion.

Sargon II favored Nabu, the god of scribes, over the Sumerian/Assyrian warrior god Ninurta/Nisroch

650BC: ancient “Sumerian” / Neo-Assyrian clay tablet “Planisphere” which is said to represent the night sky of 3-4 January 650BC over Nineveh in the British Museum HOWEVER, Alan Bond et al in 2008 using computers to review the star positions suggest it is a copy of the night notebook of a Sumerian astronomer as he records the events in the sky before dawn on the 29 June 3123 BC (Julian calendar) and supposedly documents an asteroid impact on that date that was the root of many myths, including the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the Greek myth of Phaeton (the son of the sun god Helios who took his father's fiery sun chariot for a joyride and crashed it). It had been thought to be related to a major mountain rock slide - the Köfels landslide⁶⁾ but this has been dated to c7800BC and there is apparently no evidence of asteroid impact causing it