Position in chronology
SAA 10 047. Conjunctions of Mars and Saturn (ABL 0079) [from astrologers]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) To the king, our lord: your servants Balasî and Nabû-ahhe-eriba. Good health to the king, our lord! May Nabû and Marduk bless the king, our lord! (6) Concerning the planets [Satur]n and [Mars] ... (Break) (r 1) There is (still) (a distance of) about 5 fi[ngers] left; it (= the conjunction) is not y[et] certain. Presently we keep observing and shall write to the king, our lord. It (= Mars) moves about a finger a day.
Source: Parpola, S. 1993. Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars. SAA 10. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa10/P334028/
Why it matters
Transliteration
a-na LUGAL EN-ni / ARAD-MEŠ-ka mba-la-si-i / mdPA—PAB-MEŠ—SU lu-u DI-mu / a-na LUGAL EN-ni / dPA dAMAR.UTU a-na LUGAL / EN-ni lik-ru-bu ina UGU / MUL.[UDU.IDIM.SAG].⸢UŠ*⸣ / ⸢MUL*⸣.[ṣal-bat-a-nu] / am—⸢mar 05 ú⸣-[ba-ni] / re-e-ḫe ú-[di-na] / la pa-ri-[is] / an-nu-rig ni-na-ṣar / a-na LUGAL EN-ni / ni-šap-pa-ra / am—mar ú-ba-ni / ša UD-me il-lak
Scholarly note
Letter from a scholar (astrologer, exorcist, physician, lamentation-priest) to Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal, edited by Simo Parpola (SAA 10, 1993). ORACC text P334028.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P334028). 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/P334028/.
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