Sumerian·Book

Position in chronology

SAA 08 412. Mars and Aries in Lunar Halo (RMA 101) [planetary]

~670 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·P236968

Translation · reference

High confidence
(1) If the moon is surrounded by a halo, and Mars stands in it: in all lands cultivated fields and dates will not prosper; variant: the Westland will diminish. (5) If the moon is surrounded by a halo, and a planet stands in it: the king's troops will be shut up. (7) [If the moon] is surrounded by a halo, and the Field star, behind which are the Ple[iades], stands in it: the cattle of the land will prosper. (r 2) Mars is a star of the Westland; the Field star behind which are the Pleiades is Aries; Aries is a star of the Westland. (r 5) From Rašil.

Source: Hunger, H. 1992. Astrological Reports to Assyrian Kings. SAA 8. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa08/P236968/

Why it matters

Transliteration

1 30 TÙR NÍGIN-ma MUL.ṣal-bat-a-nu ina ŠÀ-šú GUB / ina KUR DÙ.A.BI me-re-šum / u ZÚ.LUM.MA NU SI.SÁ / KI.MIN KUR—MAR.TU.KI TUR-ir / 1 30 TÙR NÍGIN-ma MUL.UDU.IDIM ina ŠÀ-šú GUB / LUGAL ERIM-šú ú-tas-sar / [1 30] TÙR NÍGIN-ma MUL.AŠ.GÁN šá EGIR-šú ⸢MUL⸣.[MUL] / ina ŠÀ-šú GUB ÁB.GUD-ḪI.A šá KUR SI.SÁ / MUL.ṣal-bat-a-nu MUL KUR—MAR.KI / MUL.AŠ.GÁN šá EGIR-šú MUL.MUL MUL.LÚ.ḪUN.GÁ / MUL.LÚ.ḪUN.GÁ MUL MAR.TU.KI / šá mTUK-ši—DINGIR

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 P236968.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P236968). 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/P236968/.

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