The spring equinox is mentioned in this 3,000-year-old cuneiform tablet from ancient Mesopotamia. It says: ‘On the 6th day of Nisan the day and night were of equal length’.
Nisan was the first month of the Assyrian calendar. Reports like this were given to King Ashurbanipal and entered into his famous library – everything in Mesopotamia was believed to be the result of divine action, and scholars and officials wrote letters to the king to inform him of these events.