Sumerian·Book

Position in chronology

SAA 08 114. Morning First of Mars Near Jupiter(?) (RMA 232) [planetary]

~670 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·P336526

Translation · reference

High confidence
(1) [Ma]rs became visible in Tammuz (IV) (and) is faint. (2) [If Mars] becomes visible in Tammuz (IV): the cemetery of the warriors will enlarge. (3) [Mars] is said to (portend) death. (4) [If Ma]rs stands in the east: attack of Subartu and the Kassites against the land. (6) [If] Mars rises scintillating and its radiance is yellow: the king of Elam will die. (8) If Nergal in his appearance is very small and white, and scintillates very much like the fixed stars: he will have mercy on Akkad; the force of my troops will go and defeat the enemy troops, it will conquer the land for which it…

Source: Hunger, H. 1992. Astrological Reports to Assyrian Kings. SAA 8. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa08/P336526/

Why it matters

Transliteration

[dṣal-bat]-a-nu ina ITI.ŠU it-ta-mar un-nu-ut / [1 dṣal-bat-a]-⸢nu⸣ ina ITI.ŠU IGI.LAL KI.NÁ qu-ra-di DAGAL / [dṣal-bat-a-nu] a-na mu-ta-ni qa-bi / [1 dṣal-bat]-a-nu ina IM.KUR.RA GUB-iz ZI-ut SU.BIR₄.KI / ù kaš-ši-i a-na KUR / [1] dṣal-bat-a-nu um-mu-liš KUR-ma ŠE.ER.ZI-MEŠ-šú SIG₇ / LUGAL NIM.MA.KI ÚŠ / 1 dU.GUR ina IGI.DU₈.A-šú ṣú-ḫur u BABBAR GAR-in / ki-ma MUL-MEŠ AN-e ma-aʾ-diš um-mul /…

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 P336526.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336526). 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/P336526/.

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