This unusual inscription was found at Keskintos, about 8 km. west of Lindos. Because the beginning has been lost, it has been left to modern scholars to explain the purpose of the inscription. It appears to enumerate the number of 'periods' of four different types associated with each planet, which occur during exactly 29,140 years (shown in column 4) or during a Great Year of 291,400 years (shown in column 8); for further details, see A.Jones, "The Astronomical Inscription from Keskintos, Rhodes" ( PDF ). The last line shows that the inscription was intended to accompany a votive offering of some kind.
In this version of the translation, column 6 (which simply repeats the words written in column 2) has been omitted. The traditional Greek names of the planets have been translated into their familiar modern names. Five planets were known to the Greeks: the numbers for Venus almost certainly appeared in the lost lines at the beginning.
The translation has been updated in a few places, using the improved edition of the text published in G. Bevan, A. Jones & D. Lehoux, "The Miletus Parapegma and the Keskintos Astronomical Inscription: New Evidence from Reflectance Transformation Imaging" ( PDF ).
| {1} | {2} | {3} | {4} | {5} | {6} | {7} | {8} |
| *** | *** | *** | *** | *** | *** | *** | |
| Mercury | [In relative position] | [passages] | : 91854 | Mercury | ... | passages | : 918540 |
| Mars | In length | zodiacals | : 15492 | Mars | ... | zodiacals | : 154920 |
| Mars | In breadth | tropicals | : 15436 | Mars | ... | tropicals | : 154360 |
| Mars | In depth | revolutions | : 40964 | Mars | ... | revolutions | : 409640 |
| Mars | In relative position | passages | : 13648 | Mars | ... | passages | : 136480 |
| Jupiter | In length | zodiacals | : 2450 | Jupiter | ... | zodiacals | : 24500 |
| Jupiter | In breadth | tropicals | : 2456 | Jupiter | ... | tropicals | : 24560 |
| Jupiter | In depth | revolutions | : 24260 | Jupiter | ... | revolutions | : 242600 |
| Jupiter | In relative position | passages | : 26690 | Jupiter | ... | passages | : 266900 |
| Saturn | In length | zodiacals | : 992 | Saturn | ... | zodiacals | : 9920 |
| [Saturn] | In breadth | tropicals | : 989 216° | Saturn | ... | tropicals | : 9896 |
| [Saturn] | In depth | revolutions | : 27176 | Saturn | ... | revolutions | : 271760 |
| [Saturn] | In relative position | passages | : 28148 | Saturn | ... | passages | : 281480 |
. . . A circle comprises 360 degrees or 9720 points {stigmai}. A degree comprises [2]7 points.
Thank-offering to . . . the nymphs.
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