Genesis 11: Part 3 Half Circle Model

We saw in the last post how the synodic orbital data can be drawn out of the numbers in the Genesis 11 genealogy.

But how did the ancients use this information?

Half Circle Model

If we put the ages into a half circle, we get:

Going from the bottom upwards, we have:

Shem 100

Arphaxad 35

Salah 30

Eber 34

Peleg 30

Reu 32

Serug 30

Nahor 29

Terah 70

We see this same semi-circle image at the Newgrange Neolithic site in Ireland.

The blue circle denotes where the half-circle model could be on this stone. The Newgrange site was built around 3,200 BC. It seems strange that the genealogy in Genesis 11 links with this stone.

Could the ancients have used this image to predict the movement of the planets in the sky?

The Beget Ages

If we add up all the ages at which each patriarch has a child, we calculate 390. This is half the synodic orbit of Mars (780/2 = 390).

So as we saw Saturn is the foundation of the Genesis 5 astronomical clock, Mars, which has the longest synodic orbit, is the basis of the Genesis 11 astronomical model.

In the image at the bottom of the post, we can see how Mars (in red) maps onto the beget ages.

Arphaxad

The second patriarch, Arphaxad, in the text has a strange name. No one is entirely sure what it means. One interpretation I found on Abarim Publications, a great resource for finding name meanings, is ‘Light Trickles As If He Were A Breast’.

If we think about Venus, we know it is one of the brightest objects in the night sky. This interpretation of the name gives an idea that light pours out of Venus like milk from a mother’s breast.

If we add up all the beget ages of these patriarchs, except Shem, we get half the synodic orbit of Venus. At the bottom of the post is a table showing how it maps on the beget ages.

Half a Solar Year

The next name is Salah. His name means sprout or send. From this point, the instruction tells us a new series is needed. So if we take the 6 consecutive ages from here and add them up, we get 185 days. If we double 185, we get 370. Just over 365.

In contrast, when we look at the name Peleg, it means split apart. The column in yellow, represent a second Solar year, and adds up to 180, which when doubled equals 360. Five days short from a full Solar year.

The 365 days of a Solar year is half way between the 6 numbers running from Salah and the full list of numbers minus Peleg. You can see this in the table below.

Sharing Planets

The next name is Eber, which means ‘cross over’. This may relate to Saturn and Jupiter sharing the list of beget ages.

You can see that the crossover point is at Eber in the table below. The first four ages add up to 199 and the five other ages add up to 191. Both which are around half the synodic orbits of Jupiter and Saturn, respectively.

We can see this in the table below with Jupiter in light green and Saturn in pale yellow.

Lunar Months and Mercury

The name Reu means friend or companion. This is where we see Mercury and the lunar months share the same numbers.

59 is equally half the synodic orbit of Mercury and two lunar months.

When we put all this together we create the following table:

This can then be converted into the half curved image below:

Going out from the centre, we have:

Mars, Venus, Jupiter/Saturn, Shortened Solar year, Long Solar year, Moon and Mercury.

How To Use the Half Circle

The ancient astronomers could have started at the bottom and counted the days, probably using stones or tallies. Then as they got to the end of the designated period, they came back to the start. Therefore completing a full cycle.

This would track where the planet was in the sky and in relation to the Solar year.

The next post will look at how the Neolithic curcuses were used. Curcuses are strange box like features which are found at Neolithic sites.