19. More About Line 8

A Babylonian month has either 29 or 30 days. Line 8 records that the 1st day of Month 2 was on the 30th of the preceding month, which means Month 1 had only 29 days.

Around the beginning of a month, Babylonian astronomers watched at sunset to catch a glimpse of the moon, which signaled the first day of the month. If bad weather got in the way, they had methods for accurately predicting the first visibility of the lunar crescent. A full understanding of their methods eludes historians of astronomy.