Position in chronology
SAA 08 167. Full Moon on 14th Day [lunar]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) If on the 14th day the moon and sun [are seen together]: reliable speech; the land will become happ[y; the gods] will remember [Akkad favorably]; joy [among the troops; the king will become happy]. (4) If the moon and sun are in opposition: [the king of the land will widen his understanding]. (5) If the moon and sun are in balance: [reliable speech] will be placed in the mouth of people; [......;] i.e. on the 14th day [(the moon) will be seen with the sun]. (r 1) Jupiter [becomes visible in the east and stands] in the sky all year. (r 3) Now until Tammuz (IV) [...] additional days in [...]. (r 5) If Jupiter [...] in the sky: the days of the king will become long. (r 7) This is [its interpretation]. (r 8) From Aššur-šumu-idd[ina].
Source: Hunger, H. 1992. Astrological Reports to Assyrian Kings. SAA 8. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa08/P336663/
Why it matters
Transliteration
1 UD 14-KAM 30 ù 20 KI [a-ḫa-meš IGI-MEŠ] / KA GI.NA ŠÀ KUR DÙG.⸢GA⸣ [DINGIR-MEŠ KUR—URI.KI a-na SIG₅-tim] / i-ḫas-sa-su ḫu-ud ŠÀ [ERIM-ni ŠÀ LUGAL DÙG.GA] / 1 30 u 20 šu-ta-tu-u [LUGAL KUR uz-nu DAGAL-áš] / 1 30 u 20 šit-qu-lu [at-mu-ú ke-e-nu] / ina KA UN-MEŠ GAR-⸢an⸣ [x x x x] / ša UD 14-KÁM [KI dUTU IGI.LAL-ma] / 1 MUL.SAG.ME.GAR ina [dUTU.È IGI-ma] / kal MU.AN.NA ina AN-⸢e⸣ [GUB-az] / ú-ma-a…
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 P336663.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336663). 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/P336663/.
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.