Position in chronology
SAA 08 115. Morning First of Jupiter (RMA 196) [planetary]
Translation — scholar edition
SAA 8(1) If Jupi[ter in Sivan (III)] approaches and stands where the s[un shines] forth, (if) it is brig[ht and its features] are red, its rising is as perfect as [the rising of the sun]: a[ngry] gods will be reconciled with Akkad; [there will be] copi[ous] rain and regular [floods] in Akkad; barley and sesame will increase, and the equivalent of (only) 1 litre will (have to) be paid for 1 kor; the gods in the sky will stand in their (appropriate) positions; their shrines will see wealth. (11) If Jupiter becomes steady in the morning: enemy kings will make peace. (13) If Jupiter carries radiance:…
State Archives of Assyria, volume 8 — scholar edition (ORACC).
Transliteration
1 MUL.SAG.[ME.GAR ina ITI.SIG₄] ú-qar-rib-ma / a-šar d[UTU ul-ta]-⸢pa⸣-a GUB-iz / ba-ʾi-[il zi-mu-šú] SA₅ / KUR-šú ki-[ma KUR dUTU] ga-mir / DINGIR-MEŠ ⸢ze⸣-[nu-ti ana] KUR—URI.KI SILIM-MEŠ / A.AN ṭuḫ-[di A.KAL] si-id-ru-ti / ina KUR—URI.KI [GÁL-MEŠ] ŠE u ŠE.GIŠ.Ì i-ma-id-ma / KI.LAM 01 qa-TA.ÀM a-na 01 GUR SUM-in / DINGIR-MEŠ ina AN-e ina man-zal-ti-šú-nu GUB-MEŠ / BARAG-MEŠ-šú-nu ṭuḫ-du IGI-MEŠ…
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 P336499.
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/P336499/..
Translation excerpted from Hunger, H. 1992. Astrological Reports to Assyrian Kings. SAA 8. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa08/P336499/.
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.