Position in chronology
SAA 10 255. Eclipse Rituals for the King, Princes and the Palace (ABL 0018) [from exorcists]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) To the king, my lord: your servant Marduk-šakin-šumi: (3) Good health to the king, my lord! May Nabû and Marduk bless the king, my lord! (5) Concerning the ritual about which the king said yesterday: "Get it done by the 24th day" — we cannot make it; the tablets are too numerous, (god only knows) when they will be written. Even the preparation of the figurines which the king saw (yesterday) took us 5 to 6 days. (14) Now, provided that the king, my lord, consents, the month Tebet (X) would be suitable for performing the counterspells. Let the crown prince [perform] (his part) during that…
Source: Parpola, S. 1993. Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars. SAA 10. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa10/P333970/
Why it matters
Transliteration
a-na LUGAL be-lí-ia / ARAD-ka mdAMAR.UTU—GAR—MU / lu-u DI-mu a-na LUGAL EN-ia / dPA u dAMAR.UTU a-na LUGAL EN-ía / lik-ru-bu ina UGU dul-li ša LUGAL / ina ti-ma-li iq-bu-u-ni / ma a-na UD 24-KÁM ep-šá / la-áš-šú la nu-šá-an-ṣa / ṭup-pa-a-ni ma-aʾ-du-ti šu-nu / im—ma-ti ⸢i*-šaṭ*-ṭu*-ru*⸣ / ù šá-aṣ-⸢bu*⸣-[tú šá] NU-MEŠ-ni / ša LUGAL e-mur-[u]-⸢ni⸣ ina ŠÀ UD-MEŠ / 05 06 re-e-šú ni-⸢it⸣-ti-ši /…
Scholarly note
Letter from a scholar (astrologer, exorcist, physician, lamentation-priest) to Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal, edited by Simo Parpola (SAA 10, 1993). ORACC text P333970.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P333970). 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/P333970/.
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