Sumerian·Book

Position in chronology

SAA 10 104. Meteor, Dark Sunrise, Mars Stationary in Capricorn (ABL 1134) [from astrologers]

~670 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·P334747

Translation · reference

High confidence
(Beginning lost) (1) If [a star] flashes [and goes down in the e]ast: an enemy host will attack the cou[ntry, and the enemy will ravage the country]. (3) If a star flashes in the daytime: there will be [an enemy attack] against the country, and the enemy will (victoriously) [wan]der around in the country. (5) On the 29th of Iyyar (II), from sunrise until the day had advanced [x hours], the radiance of the sun was diminished. Its interpretation is as follows: (9) [If the sun ri]ses and its light does not get stronger: Šamaš is angry with the king of the land. (11) If the sun is dark: the king…

Source: Parpola, S. 1993. Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars. SAA 10. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa10/P334747/

Why it matters

Transliteration

1 [MUL ina dUTU].⸢È⸣ SUR*-[ma ir-bi] / ZI-ut ERIM KÚR ana ⸢KUR*⸣ [KÚR KUR KÚ] / 1 MUL ina kal UD-mi ⸢iṣ*-ru*⸣-[ur ZI-ut KÚR] / ana KUR GÁL-ši LÚ.KÚR KUR ⸢DU₉*⸣ / UD 29-KÁM ša ITI.GUD TAv ⸢bé*⸣-[et] / ip*-pu-ḫa-an-ni a-du bé-et [x KASKAL.GÍD] / UD-mu im-ma-at-ḫa-an-ni šá-⸢ru*⸣-[ru] / ša dUTU ma-aq-tu ki-i an-[ni-i] / pi-šìr-šú [1 20] ⸢KUR*⸣-ma UD.DA-⸢su⸣ / la ú-da-⸢nin*⸣ LUGAL KUR dUTU / KI-šú…

Scholarly note

Letter from a scholar (astrologer, exorcist, physician, lamentation-priest) to Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal, edited by Simo Parpola (SAA 10, 1993). ORACC text P334747.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P334747). 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/P334747/.

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