Position in chronology
SAA 08 158. Meteor, Sighting of Mercury (RMA 200) [planetary, occasional]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) If a star flares up and its flare is as bright as daylight, (and) in its flaring up it has a tail like a scorpion: this sign is good; it does not (only) refer to the master of the house, but to the whole land. (4) If there is bennu-disease in all lands: the evil man will disappear, there will be truth, the poor will become rich, the rich will become poor; this master of the house, variant: this king, will stand in his truth; there will be reconciliation and peace in the land. (8) This (omen) is from the se[ries]. (9) If a meteor [flares up] from the rising of the [north wind] to the…
Source: Hunger, H. 1992. Astrological Reports to Assyrian Kings. SAA 8. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa08/P336503/
Why it matters
Transliteration
1 MUL SUR-ma ṣe-re-er-šú GIM UD.DA na-mir / ina ṣa-ra-ri-šú GIM nam-maš-ti GÍR.TAB KUN GAR-in / GISKIM ši-i SIG₅ ul šá EN—É-ma ša KUR ka-la-šá / BE-ma be-en-nu ina KUR DÙ.A.BI GÁL-ši / rag-gu ZÁḪ kit-tu GÁL-ši lap-nu i-šar-ri / NÍG.TUK LÁL.DU EN—É BI KI.MIN LUGAL BI / ina kit-ti-šú GUB-az taš-mu-u SILIM-mu ina KUR GÁL / an-ni-u ša iš-[ka-ri] / 1 MUL—GAL ul-tu ti-ib [IM.SI.SÁ] / a-na ti-ib…
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 P336503.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336503). 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/P336503/.
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