Yes – the Astronomical Book (1 Enoch 72–82) is the oldest section of what later became 1 Enoch.

Here is the current scholarly consensus on the relative age of the five major sections (based on language, content, Qumran manuscript evidence, and historical allusions):

Section	Chapters	Approximate date of composition	Evidence that makes it the oldest
Astronomical Book	72–82	Late 4th – early 3rd century BCE (ca. 350–250 BCE, some scholars push to 300–200 BCE)	• Oldest Aramaic fragments at Qumran (4Q208–4Q211) date paleographically to ca. 200–175 BCE – earlier than fragments of any other section. • Uses a very primitive 364-day schematic solar calendar that shows Babylonian influence but no Hellenistic influence. • No mention of the Seleucid persecutions or any event after ca. 300 BCE. • Widely regarded by Milik, Nickelsburg, VanderKam, García Martínez, and almost everyone today as the earliest Enochic writing that existed.
Book of Watchers	1–36	Early–mid 3rd century BCE (ca. 280–225 BCE)	Slightly later – reacts to and expands on the Astronomical Book (explicitly cites Uriel’s calendar revelations). Aramaic fragments are from ca. 200–150 BCE.
Book of Dreams (Animal Apocalypse)	83–90	ca. 165–160 BCE (right during or just after the Maccabean crisis)	Clear allusions to Antiochus IV, the desecration of the Temple, and Judas Maccabeus.
Epistle of Enoch	91–108	ca. 170–160 BCE	Also has Maccabean-era references.
Book of Parables/Similitudes	37–71	Late 1st century BCE – early 1st century CE (or possibly as late as 2nd–3rd century CE in some minority views)	No fragments at Qumran at all → composed after the community was founded or deliberately excluded.

Bottom line (current mainstream dating)

1. Astronomical Book (72–82) → oldest, 4th–early 3rd century BCE
2. Book of Watchers (1–36) → next, mid-3rd century BCE
3. Dreams + Epistle → Maccabean period (165–160 BCE)
4. Parables → much later (no Qumran evidence)

So yes – the Astronomical Book is universally regarded today as the earliest of the five major books that were eventually combined into what we now call 1 Enoch.

Yes – the “Book of Watchers” is the section of 1 Enoch that most strongly promotes the 364-day calendar.Here is the exact breakdown of 1 Enoch and where the calendar appears:

Section (common name)	Chapters	Content summary	Does it promote the 364-day calendar?
Book of Watchers	1–36	– Introduction and Enoch’s throne vision (1–5) – Fall of the angels/Watchers, their sins, and punishment (6–11) – Enoch’s intercession and heavenly journey (12–16) – List of the 20 archangels/Watchers (17–36, including the famous 200 names in ch. 6–8 and the astronomical/oath material in ch. 17–19)	Yes – very strongly, especially in 1 Enoch 18:14–16 and 33:3–4 Here Enoch is shown the “storehouses of the stars and luminaries” and explicitly told that the correct year has “364 days” and that the sun’s circuit is perfect only with this number.
Book of Parables (Similitudes)	37–71	Messianic / Son of Man visions	No calendar material at all
Astronomical Book	72–82	Detailed description of the 364-day solar calendar, gates of the sun/moon, etc.	Yes – this is the full, systematic calendar section
Book of Dreams	83–90	Animal Apocalypse, etc.	No calendar
Epistle of Enoch	91–108	Ethical teaching, apocalypse of weeks	Brief mention in 92:13–14, but not detailed

Key verses in the Book of Watchers itself that push the 364-day calendar

• 1 Enoch 18:14–16 (Enoch’s first heavenly journey):
  “This place is the end of the greatness of heaven… and the stars which roll over the fire – these are they which have transgressed the commandment of God from the beginning of their rising, because they did not come forth at their proper times.”
• 1 Enoch 33:3–4 (still in the Watchers section):
  Uriel shows Enoch the laws of the heavenly bodies and says the year is completed in 364 days.

So yes – the Book of Watchers (chapters 1–36) is not just the fallen-angels story; it already contains the first explicit endorsement of the 364-day solar calendar and presents it as divine revelation given to Enoch by the angel Uriel.
The later Astronomical Book (72–82) simply expands the same calendar into much more detail.Bottom line
The Book of Watchers = 1 Enoch chapters 1–36
It absolutely does promote and require the 364-day calendar (it’s one of the earliest places in the entire Enoch tradition that does so).

No – the ancient Egyptian civil calendar was solar, but it was fixed at 365 days, not 364.Here is the exact structure of the classic Egyptian calendar (used from at least 2780 BCE until the Ptolemaic reforms and even later in some contexts):

Feature	Egyptian Civil Calendar (pre-reform)
Length of the normal year	365 days exactly
Number of months	12
Length of each month	30 days each → 12 × 30 = 360 days
Extra days (“epagomenal days”)	5 additional days added at the end of the year (the “birthdays of Osiris, Horus, Seth, Isis, Nephthys”)
Total	365 days (fixed, never changed for ~2,500 years)
Leap-year rule	None – no extra day every four years
Consequence	Drifted ~1 day every 4 years against the real solar year → the famous “wandering year” (wep renpet) that completed a full 1,460-year cycle (the Sothic cycle) before realigning with the heliacal rising of Sirius.

Comparison with the Enoch / Jubilees calendar

Calendar	Days per year	Extra days / leap rule	Result after 100 years
Classic Egyptian civil	365	5 fixed epagomenal days, no leap day	~25 days behind the sun
Enoch / Jubilees / Qumran	364	4 extra days inserted in fixed months, no leap mechanism	~124 days behind the sun
Real tropical solar year	~365.2422	–	0

So the Egyptian calendar was closer to reality than the 364-day Enochic one (it only lost ~¼ day per year instead of ~1¼ days), but it still slowly drifted because it never had a leap day.Later Egyptian calendars that did try to fix it

• Canopus Decree (238 BCE) – Ptolemy III tried to add one leap day every 4 years (making it effectively 365.25 days). The priests ignored it.
• Alexandrian / Coptic reform (30 BCE under Augustus) – finally enforced the leap day every 4 years → this is the direct ancestor of the Julian calendar and eventually our Gregorian calendar.

Bottom line

• Classic ancient Egyptian calendar = pure solar, fixed 365 days (360 + 5).
• Never 364 days.
• The 364-day calendar is purely a Jewish priestly / Enochic / Qumran invention with no connection to the actual Egyptian system.

No – the Book of Jubilees does NOT fix the 10 days that the 364-day Enochian calendar loses every 8 years (or ~1¼ days per year).
In fact, Jubilees doubles down on the 364-day year and explicitly forbids any kind of intercalation that would correct the drift.What Jubilees actually says

Passage	Exact wording (R. H. Charles translation)	Meaning
Jubilees 2:9	“…He told them [the angels] to observe the months of the year according to the 364 days…”	Repeats Enoch’s 364-day rule as divine law.
Jubilees 6:32–34	“For this reason I command and testify to you that you may testify to them: Do not add to or remove from the years… All of the days of the commandments will be fifty-two weeks of days [= 364]… and they will go wrong as to new moons, sabbaths, festivals…”	Adding days or months to correct the drift is sinful.
Jubilees 6:36–38	“There will be those who will make astronomical observations… and they will go wrong… All the children of Israel will forget… until the day of judgment… because they will corrupt the months and the years.”	Anyone who tries to keep the calendar in line with the real sun by adding days/months is corrupting God’s law and will be punished.

The math (same problem as 1 Enoch)

Calendar	Days per year	Drift vs. true solar year (~365.2422)	After 8 years	After 40 years (one Jubilee)
Enoch / Jubilees	364	–1.2422 days per year	–10 days	–50 days
Real solar year	365.2422	0	0	0

So after one full Jubilee period (49 years in Jubilees’ own counting), their calendar would already be almost two months behind the actual seasons — and Jubilees insists this is the correct, holy way.Bottom line

• 1 Enoch → 364 days, no fix, polemic against lunar intercalation.
• Jubilees → 364 days, even stronger polemic, explicitly bans any correction.

Neither text tries to solve the drift problem. They treat the permanent 364-day year as a divine commandment given on Mount Sinai, and any attempt to add days or a 13th month (the solution the later rabbis adopted) is portrayed as one of the greatest sins that will bring on the final judgment.That is why the Qumran community (who followed both Enoch and Jubilees) also used a fixed 364-day calendar and simply let the seasons slowly slide — they considered astronomical accuracy less important than obeying what they believed was the original revelation.

No – the mainstream Jewish calendar (the one 1 Enoch and Jubilees were attacking) did NOT add a 13th month every 7 years.Here’s what they actually did (both in the Second-Temple period and in the later rabbinic calendar we still use today):

Calendar type	How they kept it in sync with the real solar year (≈365.2422 days)	Exact rule
Mainstream / official Jewish luni-solar calendar (the one Enoch hated)	Add one full extra month (Adar II / second Adar) roughly 7 times in every 19 years	19-year Metonic cycle (the same cycle the Babylonians and later Greeks used) → years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, 19 of the cycle get the leap month.
Enochic / Jubilees / Qumran 364-day solar calendar (the one they wanted everyone to use)	Never added any extra days or months – they insisted on exactly 364 days every single year, no exceptions.	They knew it drifted ~1.24 days per year from the true solar year, but they considered that drift better than “sinfully” following the moon.

Quick comparison

Calendar	Normal year	Leap year	How often leap years?	Total days in 19 years
Enoch / Jubilees / Qumran	364 days	Still 364 days (no leap mechanism)	Never	6,916 days (drifts ~23–24 days behind the sun in 19 years)
Official Jewish (then & now)	354 days	383 or 384 days (13th month added)	7 times in 19 years	6,939–6,940 days (stays almost perfectly in sync with seasons)

So the people 1 Enoch was arguing against added a 13th month 7 times in 19 years (not every 7 years).
The Enoch party refused to add anything and just let their 364-day year slowly drift. That’s why Jubilees (2:9) literally says God told Moses on Sinai to use the 364-day solar calendar and never intercalate – making the later rabbinic leap-month system technically a violation of what they claimed was the original divine command.

Yes – the Astronomical Book (1 Enoch 72–82) is very clearly a strong polemic to get Jews to abandon the lunar-based calendar that was becoming official in the Second-Temple period and switch to a pure 364-day solar calendar.1. What calendar does 1 Enoch insist on?

• 364 days exactly, every single year.
• 12 months of 30 days each = 360 days
  • one extra day added at the end of every 3rd month (i.e., after months 3, 6, 9, and 12) → 4 extra days
    → total 364 days (always divisible by 7, so every year begins on the same day of the week – Wednesday in Enoch’s system).

This is presented as the perfect, divinely revealed calendar taught by the angel Uriel to Enoch himself.
Any deviation from it is portrayed as sinful and a corruption introduced by fallen angels or sinful humans (see 1 Enoch 80:2–8).2. What calendar were most other Jews using in the 3rd–2nd century BCE?

Calendar	Number of days per year	Who used it?
Babylonian-influenced lunar calendar (the one that eventually became the official Jewish calendar)	354 days (12 lunar months) + intercalary month ~7 times in 19 years → average 365.25	Temple authorities in Jerusalem by the late 3rd century BCE, later standardized as the rabbinic calendar we still use today
Empirical lunar calendar (used by some priests and the Qumran community)	Same 354-day base, but they observed the new moon visually and added intercalary months when needed	Most mainstream Second-Temple Judaism
364-day solar calendar (Enoch + Qumran)	Fixed 364 days every year	1 Enoch, Book of Jubilees, the Qumran community (Damascus Document, 4Q320–4Q321 calendar texts), and some priestly groups

3. How polemical is 1 Enoch about this?Extremely. Key passages:

• 74:10–12 – explicitly says the correct year is 364 days and condemns people who use “sinful” calendars that make the festivals fall on the wrong days.
• 82:4–7 – Enoch’s son Methuselah is told to preserve this calendar for future generations because “the years will be shortened” and “people will go wrong on months, sabbaths, festivals…” if they follow the moon.
• The entire Astronomical Book is framed as a divine revelation to correct the errors of humanity.

4. Who was the polemic aimed at?The authors (a priestly, probably Zadokite group in the 3rd–2nd century BCE) were angry that the Jerusalem Temple priesthood had adopted the Babylonian-style lunar calendar (probably under Seleucid influence after 200 BCE).
The same 364-day calendar was later adopted by:

• The author of Jubilees (mid-2nd century BCE) – even more aggressive polemic.
• The Qumran / Dead Sea Scrolls community – all their calendars are 364-day solar.

Bottom line

Calendar tradition	Days per year	Attitude in 1 Enoch
Enochic / Jubilees / Qumran	364 (fixed solar)	This is the only correct, God-given calendar
Mainstream Second-Temple & later rabbinic Judaism	354 + leap months (luni-solar)	Called sinful, corrupt, and leading people to celebrate festivals on the wrong days

So yes – one of the central purposes of the Astronomical Book of Enoch (and later Jubilees) was to convince Jews to reject the lunar calendar that was becoming dominant and return to (or adopt) the 364-day solar year.

Yes – several Jewish and Jewish-Christian ascension apocrypha and pseudepigrapha contain scenes where an ancient prophet is taken up to heaven (or shown visions) and explicitly meets, sees, or is told about prophets who lived centuries after him.Here are the clearest examples:

Text	Prophet who ascends / has the vision	Future prophet(s) he meets or sees	Details
Ascension of Isaiah (1st–2nd century CE Jewish-Christian)	Isaiah (8th century BCE)	Jesus (as the Beloved / the Lord Christ)	In the full version (chs. 6–11), Isaiah is taken through the seven heavens and in the 7th heaven sees the Beloved (Jesus) sitting at the right hand of the Great Glory, long before Jesus is born. He also sees the descent of the Beloved into the world, his crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension.
4 Ezra (= 2 Esdras 3–14) (late 1st century CE)	Ezra (5th century BCE)	Jesus (called “my Son the Messiah” or simply “the Messiah”)	In the visions (esp. 7:28–29, 12:32, 14:9), the angel Uriel shows Ezra that “my Son the Messiah shall be revealed” and rule for 400 years, then die — a clear reference to a figure centuries after Ezra’s own time.
Apocalypse of Abraham (1st–2nd century CE)	Abraham	A mysterious righteous man from Abraham’s own lineage (interpreted by many scholars as a messianic figure, sometimes linked to Jesus in Christian readings)	Ch. 29: the angel Yahoel shows Abraham a future figure who will come from his descendants and atone for the sins of the world.
Ladder of Jacob (1st–2nd century CE Jewish, preserved in Slavonic)	Jacob	A future savior figure (face “like the sun”) who will come from Jacob’s descendants	The angel Sariel shows Jacob a vision of a coming deliverer.
Testament of Levi 8 & 18 (part of Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, 2nd century BCE Jewish core with later Christian interpolations)	Levi	A future priest-king (in Christian versions clearly Jesus)	Levi sees in heaven a coming priest “from the tribe of Judah and Levi” who will be exalted forever.
Sibylline Oracles Book 3 (2nd century BCE Jewish, later Christian additions)	The Sibyl (speaks as a prophetess)	A future king/messiah from heaven (again, Christians read this as Jesus)	Lines 767–795 describe a future divine ruler sent from God.

The patternThese works belong to a common Second-Temple and early Christian genre in which:

• An ancient biblical worthy (Isaiah, Ezra, Abraham, Levi, etc.) is taken up in vision or bodily to heaven.
• He is shown the entire future sweep of history.
• The climax is almost always the coming of the Messiah / Son of Man / Beloved / “my Son” who is unmistakably a figure centuries or millennia after the ancient prophet’s own lifetime.

In the Jewish versions (e.g., original cores of Apocalypse of Abraham, 4 Ezra without Christian glosses), the future figure is usually an unnamed or vaguely described messianic deliverer.
In the Jewish-Christian versions (Ascension of Isaiah, Christian interpolations in Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, later Sibylline books), the future figure is explicitly Jesus.So yes – the motif of an ancient prophet meeting or being shown a prophet/messiah who comes long after him is very common in exactly this branch of ascension apocrypha and pseudepigrapha.