Position in chronology
SAA 08 064. Full Moon on 13th Day (RMA 084) [lunar]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) If the moon [is ...] in its course: [there will be] evil. (3) — It [will be seen] on the 13th day (with the sun). (4) 4 months after ea[ch other] (the moon) completed the day; it rose high in [...], on the 13th day [it was seen with the sun]. The king my lord need not [be afraid] of the bad omen. (8) If the moon at its appearance "pile[s up]" the sky: it will rain, variant: the floo[d will come]. (r 1) [— It became visible in a piled-up cl]oud. (r 2) If [the Anzu star ...] is bright: either [frost] or cold [...]. (r 5) The Anzu star [is Mars]. (r 6) "Frost" [is "cold"]. (r 7) If the strange star [comes close to] Gemini: [the ruler will die]. (r 8) "The ruler will die," as it says, [refers] to [...]. (e. 1) From Nabû-ahhe-eriba.
Source: Hunger, H. 1992. Astrological Reports to Assyrian Kings. SAA 8. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa08/P336415/
Why it matters
Transliteration
1 30 ina a-la-ki-šú [ut-taḫ-ḫa-as] / lum-nu [GÁL-ši] / UD 13-KÁM in-[nam-mar-ma] / 04 ITI-MEŠ i—da-at a-[ḫe-e-iš] / UD-mu us-sa-lim ina ŠÀ-⸢bi⸣ [x x x] / it-tan-ta-ḫa UD 13-KÁM it-[ti dUTU it-ta-mar] / LUGAL be-lí a-na lum-ni lu la [i-pal-làḫ] / 1 d30 ina IGI.LAL-šú AN-ú šá-[pi-ik] / AN-ú i-za-nun KI.MIN A.⸢KAL⸣ [DU-kám] / ina IM.[DIRI šá-pi-ik-ti IGI-ma] / 1 MUL.d[IM.DUGUD x x x] / ba-ìl šúm-ma…
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 P336415.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336415). 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/P336415/.
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