Sumerian·Book

Position in chronology

SAA 08 005. Evening Last of Venus (RMA 206) [planetary]

~670 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·P336507

Translation · reference

High confidence
(1) Venus se[t] in the west. (2) If Venus in [Tebet (X)] from the 1st to the 30th day disappears in the west: the harvest of the land will prosper. (5) If Venus keeps a stable position: the days of the ruler will be long; there will be truth in the land. (8) If Venus moves in the path of Ea and sta[nds: the god]s will have peace for the Westland. (r 2) If the moon is surrounded by a halo and the Pleiades stand in it: in that year, women will give birth to male children. (r 4) If ditto, and the Old Man star s[tand]s in it: in that year, fall of peop[le]; it will not affect cattle and sheep. (r 7) From Issar-šumu-ereš.

Source: Hunger, H. 1992. Astrological Reports to Assyrian Kings. SAA 8. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa08/P336507/

Why it matters

Transliteration

1 ddil-bat ina dUTU.ŠÚ.A ir-[bi] / 1 MUL.dil-bat ina [ITI.AB] / TAv UD 01-KÁM EN UD 30-KÁM / ina dUTU.ŠÚ.A it-bal BURU₁₄ KUR SI.SÁ / 1 MUL.dil-bat KI.GUB-sà ú-ki-in / UD-MEŠ NUN GÍD.DA-MEŠ / kit-tum ina KUR GÁL-ši / [1] ⸢MUL⸣.dil-bat ina KASKAL šu-ut dÉ.A / [ir]-di-ma ⸢GUB⸣ / [DINGIR]-⸢MEŠ⸣ a-na KUR—MAR.TU.[KI] / ⸢sa⸣-li-mu TUK-[MEŠ] / 1 30 TÙR NÍGIN-ma MUL.MUL ina ŠÀ-šú GUB-MEŠ / ina MU BI…

Scholarly note

Astrological report from a court scholar to an Assyrian king, edited by Hermann Hunger (SAA 8, 1992). Celestial and meteorological observation correlated with omens. ORACC text P336507.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336507). source
Translation excerpted from Hunger, H. 1992. Astrological Reports to Assyrian Kings. SAA 8. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa08/P336507/.

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