Position in chronology
SAA 08 052. Mars Stationary in Sagittarius (RMA 236G) [planetary]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) [If Šarur and] Šargaz [of the sting of Scor]pius are faint: [......] are fallen. (4) — Mars stands inside Sagittarius; "the sting of Scorpius" is said of Sagittarius. (7) Mars became stationary in Sagittarius and stood there. (r 2) Afterwards, in Sivan (III), it will turn and move forw[ard ......]. (r 5) [From Nabû-ahhe-eri]ba.
Source: Hunger, H. 1992. Astrological Reports to Assyrian Kings. SAA 8. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa08/P336533/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[1 MUL.ŠÁR.ÙR u] MUL.ŠÁR.GAZ / [ša zi-qit MUL].⸢GÍR⸣.TAB un-nu-tú / [x x x x].KI ma-aq-tú / MUL.ṣal-bat-a-nu ina ŠÀ MUL.PA.BIL.SAG / GUB-ma zi-qit MUL.GÍR.TAB / a-na MUL.PA.BIL.SAG qa-a-bi / MUL.ṣal-bat-a-nu ina ŠÀ / MUL.PA.BIL.SAG it-te-me-di / it-ti-ti-iz / i—da-a-ti ina ITI.SIG₄ i-sa-ḫu-ur / a-na pa-na-[tu-uš-šú il]-lak / [x x]+⸢x⸣+[x x x x x x x] / [ša mdPA—PAB-MEŠ]—⸢SU*⸣
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 P336533.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336533). 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/P336533/.
Related tablets
Related sources
Whatever its purpose, this single tablet shows that Babylonian mathematicians, working in base-60, had an arithmetic understanding of right triangles a millennium before Pythagoras was born.
The single most important literary discovery of the 19th century. It rewired the understanding of the Bible's literary context and proved that the Mesopotamian flood tradition is older. It is the oldest surviving epic poetry in human history.
The literary tradition is no longer anonymous from this point. Authorship — the idea that a specific human voice composes a specific work — enters the historical record with her.