Sumerian·Book

Position in chronology

SAA 08 008. Earthquakes in Adar and Nisan (RMA 264) [weather]

~670 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·P336564

Translation · reference

High confidence
(1) Concerning the earthquake about which the king [my lo]rd wrote to me, this [is its interpretation]: (3) If the earth keeps [quaking]: attack of [an enemy]. (5) If the earth quakes at night: wo[rry for the land, variant: abandonment of the land]. (6) Because i[t quaked] on the 5th day (and) it happened to quake in the night o[f the 6th day], therefore I cit[ed] "the earth ke[pt quaking]" (omen). (r 1) If the earth quakes in Nisan (I): His land will [defect] from the ruler. (r 3) Had it not begun (in) Adar (XII), rai[n ...]; now [its] interpretation is this: because it quaked in Adar (XII)…

Source: Hunger, H. 1992. Astrological Reports to Assyrian Kings. SAA 8. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa08/P336564/

Why it matters

Transliteration

ina UGU ri-i-bi ša LUGAL ⸢be⸣-[lí] / iš-pur-an-ni an-ni-u [pi-šìr-šú] / 1 KI.TIM ú-sa-dir-ma [i-nu-uš] / ZI-ib [LÚ.KÚR] / 1 KI.TIM ina MI BUL-uš na-[zaq KUR KI.MIN ŠUB-e KUR] / ina UGU ša UD 05-KÁM i-[ru-ub-u-ni] / il-lik-an-ni MI ⸢ša⸣ [UD 06-KÁM] / i-ru-ub-[u-ni x x x] / ina UGU-ḫi KI-tum ú-sa-⸢dir⸣-[ma i-nu-uš] / at-ta-as-[ḫa o] / 1 ina ITI.BARAG KI ŠÚ-[ub] / NUN KUR-su ⸢BAL⸣-[kàt-su] / lu-u la…

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 P336564.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336564). 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/P336564/.

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