Sumerian·Book

Position in chronology

SAA 08 376. Mars in Lunar Halo (RMA 223A) [planetary]

~670 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·P236915

Translation · reference

High confidence
(1) If the moon is surrounded by a halo, and Mars [stands] in it: fall of cattle and of animals of [the steppe]; the cultivated field will not prosper; ... will diminish. (4) If a star stands in the halo of the moon: the king and [his] troops will be shut up. Mars is the star [...]. (6) If the moon is surrounded by a halo, and the Pleiades stand in it: in Iyyar (II) pregnant women will give birth to male children; the king of the world's land will defect from him and ... [...]. (9) The Pleiades (are equivalent to) Mars [...] of Mars [......] the Pleiades [......]. (r 2) If the moon is…

Source: Hunger, H. 1992. Astrological Reports to Assyrian Kings. SAA 8. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa08/P236915/

Why it matters

Transliteration

1 30 TÙR NÍGIN-ma dṣal-bat-a-nu ina ŠÀ-[šú GUB] / ŠUB-tim bu-lim u na-maš-še-e šá [EDIN] / me-re-šú NU SI.SÁ x x TUR-ir / 1 MUL ina TÙR 30 GUB LUGAL u ERIM-[šú?] / ú-ta-sà-ru / dṣal-bat-a-nu MUL.[x x x] / 1 30 TÙR NÍGIN-ma MUL.MUL ina ŠÀ-šú GUB / ina ITI.GUD MÍ.PEŠ₄-MEŠ NITA-ME ul-la-da / LUGAL ŠÚ* KUR-su KÚR-šú-ma e ⸢x⸣+[x x x] / MUL.MUL dṣal-bat-a-nu / šá dṣal-bat-a-[nu x x x x x] / MUL.MUL [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 P236915.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P236915). 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/P236915/.

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