Sumerian·Book

Position in chronology

SAA 10 146. New Moon Observed Despite Clouds (CT 53 234) [from astrologers]

~670 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·P313649

Translation · reference

High confidence
(Beginning lost) (1) [May Nabû and Marduk bles]s [the king]! (2) We kept wa[tch on the 29th day]; there were clouds, and we did not see the moon. T[od]ay, on the 30th, there were c[lou]ds again; when they di[spersed], we saw [the mo]on. [It] was [(not) like the] moon of the 29[th day]. Three days [...]. (r 1) Per[haps ...] ... [...] (Remainder lost)

Source: Parpola, S. 1993. Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars. SAA 10. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa10/P313649/

Why it matters

Transliteration

[a—dan-niš lik-ru]-⸢bu*⸣ / ⸢ma*⸣-[ṣar]-⸢tú* šá*⸣ d*30* / ni-ta-ṣar IM.DIRI d⸢30⸣ / la né-mur UD-[mu an]-ni-[u] / UD 30-KÁM ⸢IM⸣.[DIRI]-⸢ma⸣ / ki-ma ip-[ta-šar d]⸢30⸣ / né-ta-⸢mar⸣ <[la> a-ki d]30* / šá UD 29-[KÁM šu]-u / UD 03-KÁM ⸢x⸣+[x x x] / is—[su-ri x x x x] / É [x x x x x x] / ⸢x⸣+[x x x x x x x]

Scholarly note

Letter from a scholar (astrologer, exorcist, physician, lamentation-priest) to Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal, edited by Simo Parpola (SAA 10, 1993). ORACC text P313649.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P313649). 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/P313649/.

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