All tablets.

Astronomy & MathematicsReligion & Myth

SAA 08 001. Thunder in Ab, King Ill (RMA 257) [weather]

1. In the month of Ab (month V), Adad raised his voice: the sky was darkened, the heaven rained down, lightning flashed, / waters were withheld in the spring(s). / 1. When Adad cried out on a cloudless day, / it is the 'daummattu'-omen: ditto. Famine will be in the land. / Regarding the unfavorable body[-omen]: / the king, my lord, should not speak from his heart [about this], / illness — that year is it. / As many of the people as are sick — / all [will have] well-being. / It will turn around, and the king, my lord — / he who fears the gods, / day and night the gods will pray for him / …

Daily LifeReligion & MythAstronomy & Mathematics

SAA 10 044. Timing a Journey of the King (ABL 1141+) [from astrologers]

[To the king, our lord,] / [your servants Balasî] / [and Nabû-aḥḥē-erība.] / [May there be well-being] for the king [our lord.] / [May Nabû (and)] Marduk bless the king / our lord. / Concerning the journey to the city [NN] / about which the king our lord / sent word to us: / if the king is at Eanna / in the month of Tishri (month VII), it is propitious / for the journey. / Or else the king may say: / 'No, [I will not …]' / [They] said [(to us):] / 'This month, / the road / is clear; / let it be released (for travel). / The month of arrival — / let the king go! / Let the ground be kissed. / Let sacrifices / be performed.'

Daily LifeReligion & MythAstronomy & Mathematics

SAA 10 206. Prayers and Rituals against Retrograding Mars (ABL 1401) [from exorcists]

[Nabû and M]arduk [to the king,] my lord, [may they bl]ess. [Concerning] Mars, [about which the king, my lord,] wrote to me — [the king, my lord,] does not know [that as/when ...] ... those [...] [...] [in] the constellation of the Furrow (Virgo) it goes; [the flight of] locusts [...] [...] carries [radi]ance; [... evil of] Subartu; [... th]ese we ward off. [Its namburbi-ritual and] lifted-hand prayers [before Mar]s [...] regularly [we perform.] [As for sin,] there is none. May the heart [of the king, m]y lord [be well ...]

Daily LifeReligion & MythAstronomy & Mathematics

SAA 10 259. Who to Come out Next? (ABL 0364) [from exorcists]

To the king, our lord: your servants Adad-šuma-uṣur and Marduk-šākin-šumi. May there be well-being for the king, our lord. May Nabû and Marduk bless the king, our lord. Concerning the people about whom the king, our lord, wrote to us — saying: 'Is it not you who have [held] them back?' — those who have already come out to report to us, and the others who have not yet performed [their duties]: let them come out tomorrow and let them perform [them]. The king, our lord, knows which ones have performed [their duties] and which ones have not performed [them]. As for us — what do we know of this? In the protection of the king, may Bel and Nabû guide [them]; may they come out and perform [their work].

~665 BCE·Neo-AssyrianOur engine

SAA 13 073. Complaint of Sickness (ABL 0203)

To the king, my lord: your servant Nergal-šarrani. May there be peace for the king, my lord. May Nabû and Marduk bless the king, my lord, exceedingly. This month, on this very day, I have been ill since the house [where I fell sick]. It is a colic — that is what it is. Since the house where it seized me, the physicians examined [me]; they diagnosed [it as] colic. [They said:] 'The hand of Venus [is upon you] — you are sick. [It is] because of the heat of the fire that I am afraid. Without the king I cannot act.' Now, therefore, I have written to the king, my lord. By the word of the king, let [a remedy] be chosen; let [it] be performed. May [my] illness be made to pass.

Daily LifeReligion & Myth

Ashurbanipal 005

Claims divine sanction for Ashurbanipal's legendary scribal literacy — a rare royal boast that a king personally mastered cuneiform learning, framing intellectual mastery as a god-given mark of legitimate rule.

Religion & MythAstronomy & Mathematics

Ashurbanipal 084

Links a lunar eclipse, divine omens, and the Elamite king's physical affliction — paralyzed lip, diminished eye — to justify Ashurbanipal's campaign: a rare royal text weaving extispicy logic directly into annalistic narrative.

Ashurbanipal 160

Dedicates a restored shrine to Bēlet-parṣē within Nineveh's House of Succession, then invokes her curse on any ruler who erases Ashurbanipal's dynastic name — a rare attestation of this goddess as guardian of Sargonid legitimacy.

Ashurbanipal 247

(1) For the god Marduk, his lord: Ashurbanipal, king of the world (and) king of Assyria, in order to ensure his good health (5) had baked bricks made anew for Esagil and Etemenanki.

Ashurbanipal 248

(1) For the god Marduk, his lord: Ashurbanipal, king of the world (and) king of Assyria, son of Esarhaddon, (5) king of the world, king of Assyria, (and) king of Babylon, had baked bricks made anew for Etemenanki.

Ashurbanipal 249

(1) For the god Marduk, his lord: Ashurbanipal, king of the world (and) king of Assyria, for the sake of his life had baked bricks made anew for Etemenanki.

Ashurbanipal 251

(1) For the god Asari, great lord, his lord: Ashurbanipal, king of the world (and) king of Assyria, son of Esarhaddon, king of the world, king of Assyria, (and) king of Babylon, for the sake of his life had constructed Etemenanki anew.

Writing & LiteratureReligion & Myth

Ashurbanipal 252

(1') this [work] falls into dis[repair ...], question skilled [craftsmen! ... Rebuild (...)], the temple of the goddess Ištar according to [its ancient] specifi[cations! (...) The goddess Ištar (of Agade)] will (then) listen to [your prayers. Look at my] inscribed object, [anoint (it) with oil, offer a sacrifice, (and)] s[et] (my inscribed object) with your (own) inscribed object! (5'b) [(But) as for the one who erases my inscribed name by some crafty device], (or) does not write [my name] with his name, (or) [destroys my inscribed object], (or) does not set [my inscribed object with his (own) inscribed object] ... [...] the goddess Ištar of Agade [will ...].

Ashurbanipal 260

(1) For the god Enlil, king of the gods, sovereign of heaven (and) netherworld, prince (who decides) the fates, (5) his lord: Ashurbanipal, his obedient shepherd, mighty king, king of the world, (re)built Egigunû with baked bricks.

~655 BCE·Neo-AssyrianOur engine

SAA 14 107. A Court Decision on Behalf of Aššur-šallim (*638-IV) (ADD 0163)

The lawsuit of Aššur-šallim against Ṣalmu-aḫḫē, which Šulmu-šarreš, his servant, brought on behalf of Aššur-šallim — they pleaded it before Šēp-šarri, the governor. The governor imposed a fine of 1½ minas of silver. Ṣalmu-aḫḫē paid 1 mina of silver to Aššur-šallim. [Should one reopen the lawsuit] between them, he shall pay 10 minas of silver to Aššur [and Šamaš], his lord-of-judgment. [Aššur], lord-of-his-judgment — Month IV (Du'ūzu), eponym of Aššur-šumu-kēn. Witnessed by: Libūsu; Nabû-aḫu-uṣur; Išdu-Nabû (or: Ištarēnu) son of Lā-qēpu; Il-qīsu. Nabû-aya [scribe].

LawEconomy

~627 BCE·Neo-AssyrianRINAP 5

Aššur-etel-ilāni 01

Aššur-etel-ilāni's dedication of baked bricks for Ezida at Kalḫu — framed as a life-preservation rite — attests royal temple-building ideology persisting into the final turbulent years of the Assyrian Empire.