4Q318: A Jewish Zodiac Calendar at Qumran

The zodiac calendar of 4QZodiac Calendar and Brontologion (“brontos” is the Greek word for thunder; “logion” means oracle or utterance), has been recognised as a calendar by several scholars, although its method of functioning has been relatively unexplored. This paper explains how the scroll’s zodiac calendar is a working, schematic calendar that is related to the Hebrew calendar in use today. The relationship between the zodiac calendar and its accompanying thunder omen text is also reassessed. The text, numbered as 4Q318, indicates that this zodiac calendar was based upon late Babylonian zodiac calendrical traditions. The Babylonian-Aramaic month names are used in the scroll and are the same as those in the Hebrew calendar. 4Q318 could have been used as a template for working out the position of the moon in the zodiac on a given date. The brontologion could be used with this calendar to provide an archaic prediction when the sound of thunder was heard, based on the moon’s position in the zodiac on that day.