Position in chronology
SAA 08 231. Hemerology (ABL 1405) [calendrical]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) [whatever he sa]ys, is en[tirely] favorable. (3) You convict two doves, male and female, before Šamaš, (saying): (5) "Šamaš, you are the judge o[f heaven] and earth. [Uncl]ench for me the [power]ful fist of god, [king, magnate or prince]!" (Break) (r 1) [He will obtain] hi[s] desire like a god. Let him enter an inn: he will prolong (his) life. (r 3) He may eat emmer bread, he may drink emmer beer; (r 4) He may eat beef, mutton and fowl; he may not eat garlic, leek or fish; afterwards, he should embrace happiness. (r 7) He may not approach a woman; he should sleep in a secluded place. (r 10) All the gods [......] (Rest destroyed)
Source: Hunger, H. 1992. Astrological Reports to Assyrian Kings. SAA 8. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa08/P334886/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[e-ma i]-⸢qab⸣-bu-u / ⸢ka*⸣-[liš] ma-gi-ir / 02 TU.MUŠEN-MEŠ NITA u MÍ / ina IGI dUTU ⸢ta*⸣-da*-an-ši-na-tú / dUTU DI.KUD ⸢ša⸣ [AN-e] u KI.TIM / at-⸢ta*⸣-ma / rit-⸢ta⸣ [dan]-⸢na⸣-ta / ⸢ša DINGIR⸣ [(u d15) LUGAL IDIM u NUN šup]-⸢ṭi⸣-ra / ki-ma DINGIR ⸢ni-iz-mat ŠA-šú⸣ [KUR-ád] / a-na É LÚ.TIN.NA TU TI.LA ut-tar / NINDA ZÍZ.ÀM KÚ KAŠ ZÍZ.ÀM NAG / UZU GUD UDU MUŠEN KÚ / SUM.SAR GA.RAŠ.SAR KU₆ NU KÚ…
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 P334886.
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/P334886/..
Translation excerpted from Hunger, H. 1992. Astrological Reports to Assyrian Kings. SAA 8. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa08/P334886/.
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.