Sumerian·Book

Position in chronology

SAA 08 080. Mars in Cancer, Thunder in Ab (RMA 256B) [planetary, weather]

~670 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·P336556

Translation — scholar edition

SAA 8
High confidence
(1) [If] Adad th[unders in] Ab (V) [and the day] becomes cloudy, it [rains: the harvest] of the land will not prosper [...]. (4) If Adad [shouts] on a day without clouds: there will [be] famine [in the land]. (6) If light[ning] flashes on a day without clouds: Adad will devast[ate]. (8) "A day without clouds" (means) Ab (V). "Adad will [devasta]te", as it says, (means) [...]. "[Adad will de]vastate" portends hot wea[ther]. (r 1) If a storm rises from the south: fall of the Westl[and]. (r 3) [If M]ar[s stands] in Cancer: [...] will hold [...] ...... (r 5) From Bal[asî].

State Archives of Assyria, volume 8 — scholar edition (ORACC).

Transliteration

[1 ina] ⸢ITI⸣.NE dIM ⸢GÙ⸣-[šú ŠUB-ma] / [UD-mu] i-ru-up šá-[mu-u ŠUR-nun] / [BURU₁₄] KUR NU SI.SÁ [x x x] / 1 ina UD la er-pi [d]IM [is-si] / SU.KÚ [ina KUR] GÁL-[ši] / 1 ina UD la er-⸢pi⸣ NIM.GÍR ib-⸢ri⸣-[iq] / dIM RA-[iṣ] / UD-mu la ⸢er⸣-pu ITI.⸢NE⸣ / d⸢IM⸣ [RA]-iṣ šá iq-bu-u-ni [x x] / d[IM] ⸢RA⸣-iṣ a-na ṣu-ur-[ḫi] / 1 me-ḫi-[i] ⸢IM⸣.U₁₈.LU it-[bi] / ŠUB-tim KUR—⸢MAR⸣.[TU] / [1] ⸢MUL⸣.ṣal-bat-[a-nu] ina ŠÀ MUL.AL.⸢LUL⸣ [GUB] / [x x]-šú ú-kal ⸢x⸣+[x x]+⸢x⸣-ub-tú? / ša mba-⸢la⸣-[si-i]

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 P336556.

Attribution

Image: Adapted from Hermann Hunger, Astrological Reports to Assyrian Kings (State Archives of Assyria, 8), 1992. Lemmatised by Mikko Luukko, 2016-17, as part of the research programme of the Alexander von Humboldt Chair in the Ancient History of the Near and Middle East at LMU Munich (Karen Radner, Humboldt Professorship 2015). The annotated edition is released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license 3.0. Please cite this page as http://oracc.org/saao/P336556/..
Translation excerpted from Hunger, H. 1992. Astrological Reports to Assyrian Kings. SAA 8. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa08/P336556/.

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