Position in chronology
SAA 10 008. Omens from Retrograding Planets (ABL 0519) [from astrologers]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) To the king, my lord: your servant Issar-šumu-ereš. Good health to [the ki]ng, my lord! May Nabû [and Marduk] bless [the king], my lord! (5) Con[cerning what the king, my lo]rd, wrote to me: "[Why] have you never told me [the truth]? [When] will you (actually) tell me [all] that there is to it?" — [Aššur, Sin, Šamaš, B]el, Nabû, [Jupiter, Venus, Sat]urn, [Mercury, Mars], Sirius and [...] be my witnesses [that] I [have never] untruly (14) [......] the word (15) [... to] the king, my lord (16) [...... signs which] have occurred in the sky (17) [......] Jupiter (18) [......] backwards (19)…
Source: Parpola, S. 1993. Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars. SAA 10. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa10/P334356/
Why it matters
Transliteration
a-na LUGAL be-lí-ia / ARAD-ka m15—MU—KAM-eš / lu šul-mu [a-na] ⸢LUGAL⸣ be-lí-ia / dAG [u dAMAR.UTU a-na LUGAL] EN-ia lik-ru-bu / ina ⸢UGU⸣ [ša LUGAL be]-lí iš-pur-an-ni / ma-[a am—me-ni ina] ma-te-me-e-ni / [ke-e-tu is-si]-⸢ia⸣ la ta-ad-bu-ub / [a-na ma-a-ti mi-i-nu] šá ši-ti-ni ta-qab-bi-a / [aš-šur d30 dUTU d]⸢EN⸣ dAG / [dSAG.ME.GAR ddil-bat dUDU].⸢IDIM⸣.SAG.UŠ / [dUDU.IDIM.GUD.UD…
Scholarly note
Letter from a scholar (astrologer, exorcist, physician, lamentation-priest) to Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal, edited by Simo Parpola (SAA 10, 1993). ORACC text P334356.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P334356). source
Translation excerpted from Parpola, S. 1993. Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars. SAA 10. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa10/P334356/.
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