SAA 08 454. Mercury Sighted in Pleiades (RMA 218) [planetary]

~670 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·P236969

Translation — scholar edition

SAA 8

High confidence

(1) If a planet becomes visible in Iyyar (II): the flood will come and irrigate the fields. (3) If the star of Marduk reaches the Pleiades: Adad will devastate. (r 1) On the 14th day the moon and sun will not be seen together, on the 15th day one god will be seen with the other: the king of Subartu will have no rival. I have heard (that) [from the mou]th of my father. (r 7) [From] Bel-ahhe-eriba.

State Archives of Assyria, volume 8 — scholar edition (ORACC).

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Transliteration

1 ina ITI.GUD dUDU.IDIM IGI-ir / A.KAL DU-ma A.ŠÀ A.QAR i-ma-kir / 1 MUL—dAMAR.UTU MUL.MUL KUR-ud / dIM RA-iṣ / UD 14-KÁM 30 u 20 KI a-ḫa-meš / ul in-nam-ma-ru / UD 15-KÁM DINGIR KI DINGIR in-nam-ma-ru / LUGAL SU.BIR₄.KI GABA.RI / NU TUK-ši / [ina pi]-i AD-ia še-ma-a-ku / [ša m]dEN—ŠEŠ-MEŠ—eri-ba

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 P236969.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P236969). 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/P236969/.

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