Position in chronology
SAA 08 238. Birth Omens (CT 28 030) [terrestrial]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) If a cow gives birth to twins: destruct[ion of the land]; fighting; the enemy will attack the prince, and the house of its (the cow's) owner will be scattered. (4) If a cow gives birth to three (young): the mind of the land [will change]. (5) If a mare gives birth to twins: [attack of the enemy]. (6) If a mare [gives birth] to a male and a female, and they have normal hair of the face, feet, [nose, and] hooves: these cattle [will increase]; the king will attack and [overthrow] the land of his enemy; he will plunder the land of his enemy; for its (the mare's) owner there will be worry. (r 5) Maybe [...] in the same way. Let them ask again [......] for what he said [...].
Source: Hunger, H. 1992. Astrological Reports to Assyrian Kings. SAA 8. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa08/P336146/
Why it matters
Transliteration
BE ÁB 02 Ù.TU NÍG.ḪA.LAM.[MA KUR] / taš-nin-ti KÚR? ana NUN ZI-[ma] / É EN-šá BIR-[aḫ] / BE ÁB 03 Ù.TU UMUŠ KUR [MÌN-ni] / BE MÍ.ANŠE.KUR.RA 02 Ù.TU [ZI-ib KÚR] / BE MÍ.ANŠE.KUR.RA NITA u MÍ [Ù.TU-ma] / SÍG IGI-MEŠ GÌR-MEŠ [KA u] / UMBIN-MEŠ ka-a.[a-ma-an-tú GAR-MEŠ] / ÁB.GUD-ḪI.A BI [DAGAL] / LUGAL ZI-ma KUR KÚR-šu ú-[šam-qat] / NAM.RA KUR KÚR-šú GAR-[an] / ana EN-šú ni-ziq-[tum] / is—su-ri ki-i an-ni-im-ma [x x x] / lu-šá-an-ni-ʾu-u liš-ú-lu [x x x] / a-na šá iq-bu-ú-[ni x x]
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 P336146.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336146). 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/P336146/.
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