Position in chronology
SAA 10 100. Morning First of Mars in Iyyar, Eclipse of the Sun (ABL 0679+) [from astrologers]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) [To] the king, my lord: [your servant] Akkullanu. Good health to the king, my lord! May [Nabû] and Marduk bless the king, my lord! (5) [M]ars has appeared in the path of the Enlil stars at the feet of Perseus; it is faint and of a whitish colour. I saw it on the 26th of Iyyar (II) when it had (already) risen high and I am subsequently sending the relevant interpretation to the king, my lord: (9) [If] Mars approaches Perseus, there will be a rebellion in the Westland; brother will slay his brother; the palace of the ruler will be plundered; the treasure of the country will go over to…
Source: Parpola, S. 1993. Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars. SAA 10. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa10/P334477/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[a-na] LUGAL be-lí-ia / [ARAD-ka] mak-kul-la-nu / [lu-u] ⸢šul⸣-mu a-na LUGAL be-lí-ia / [dAG] u dAMAR.UTU a-na LUGAL EN-ía lik-ru-bu / [MUL.ṣal]-bat-a-nu ina KASKAL šu-ut dEN.LÍL it-ti GÌR.2-MEŠ / [MUL].ŠU.GI it-tan-mar un-nu-ut pu-ṣu šá-kin / ⸢ITI⸣.GUD UD 26-KÁM a-ta-mar a-du iš-qa-an-ni / [ḫa]-ra-me-ma a-na LUGAL EN-ía as-sap-ra pi-še-er-šu / [1] ⸢MUL⸣.ṣal-bat-a-nu ana MUL.ŠU.GI TE-ḫi ina…
Scholarly note
Letter from a scholar (astrologer, exorcist, physician, lamentation-priest) to Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal, edited by Simo Parpola (SAA 10, 1993). ORACC text P334477.
Attribution
Image: BM 099030 (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P334477). 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/P334477/.
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