Position in chronology
SAA 08 001. Thunder in Ab, King Ill (RMA 257) [weather]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) If in Ab (V) Adad thunders, the day is cloudy, it rains, lightning flashes: water will become scarce at the source. (4) If Adad shouts on a day without clouds: there will be darkness, variant: famine in the land. (6) The king my lord need not worry about this illness. This is a seasonal disease; all the people who were sick are well (now). Further, the king my lord who is one who reveres the gods and prays day and night to the gods — can really anything happen to the king my lord and his offspring? God disposes; and that is good. (r 4) Somewhere it is said as follows: "He is doing very well — his days will be short; he keeps falling ill — his days will be long." (r 8) From Issar-šumu-ereš.
Source: Hunger, H. 1992. Astrological Reports to Assyrian Kings. SAA 8. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa08/P336558/
Translation · AI engine
read from photoIn the month of Ab (Month V), Adad raised his voice and cast it down; the day was overcast, the sky rained, lightning flashed, waters were held back at the spring (source). If on a day without clouds Adad calls out — that same omen: there will be famine in the land. Concerning this unfavorable bodily sign (portent): The king, my lord, should not speak (worry) from his heart about it — this illness belongs to that year. As many of the people as are sick, all will be well (šulmu — peace/health). Moreover, the king, my lord, who is devout before the gods — day and night the gods pray/intercede for him…
5 uncertain terms ↓
- IDIM — Can mean 'underground spring,' 'source,' or 'ground water'; context favors 'spring/cistern' but some translate as 'reservoir.' Sign visible in photo but resolution too low to confirm determinative.
- da-um-ma-tu KI.MIN — 'KI.MIN' is a scribal abbreviation meaning 'ditto / same as above' — the omen repetition formula. 'da-um-ma-tu' may refer to darkness/gloom or a specific meteorological phenomenon; reading is conventional but debated.
- la ṭu-ub UZU — Literally 'non-goodness of flesh/body,' i.e., an unfavorable omen sign or bodily ailment; the phrase is a standard technical term in omen apodoses but the precise nuance (disease omen vs. inauspicious sign) is contextually ambiguous.
- ú-ṣal-lu-u-ni — From ṣalālu, 'to pray, intercede, lie down (in prayer)'; the form here is a durative subordinate clause. Some editors render 'pray for him,' others 'prostrate themselves for him.'
- mur-ṣu MU.AN.NA šu-ú — 'This illness (belongs to) that year' — a reassurance that the sickness is a passing annual phenomenon, not a permanent calamity. 'MU.AN.NA' is the logogram for šattu, 'year.'
Reasoning ↓
Photo examined: the tablet is a small, fired clay Neo-Assyrian lens-shaped or rectangular tablet photographed in multiple orientations (obverse, reverse, edges, and two side views with a small label tag reading '81-7-27, 19'). The reddish-brown clay is in generally fair condition; wedge impressions are clearly visible though somewhat shallow and the photo resolution limits precise sign-by-sign confirmation. I can broadly confirm the columnar layout and density of signs matching the transliteration. The opening sign cluster on the obverse face is consistent with 'ina ITI.NE' (month-name wedges visible), and I can see what appear to be sign groups consistent with 'dIM' (Adad determinative + name) recurring, and 'LUGAL be-lí' patterns in the lower registers. Several lines on the reverse and edges are harder to confirm due to shallow impressions and oblique lighting. The transliteration follows SAA 08 001 (State Archives of Assyria, vol. 8, celestial omen reports), a well-known astrological report from a scholar to the Neo-Assyrian king interpreting a thunder omen in Month Ab; the scholarly tradition (Hunger, SAA 8, 1992) is well established. The phrase 'gab-bu šulmu' ('all is well/peace for all') is a standard reassurance formula in these letters.
Generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 · prompt 2026-05-11/v2 · May 11, 2026 · 2681 in / 945 out tokens
Why it matters
Transliteration
1 ina ITI.NE dIM GÙ-šú ŠUB-ma / UD ŠÚ AN ŠUR-nun NIM.GÍR ib-ríq / A-MEŠ ina IDIM LÁ-MEŠ / 1 ina UD la er-pí dIM is-si / da-um-ma-tu KI.MIN SU.KÚ ina KUR GÁL / ina UGU la ṭu-ub UZU an-ni-i / LUGAL be-lí TAv ŠÀ-bi-šú la i-da-bu-ub / mur-ṣu MU.AN.NA šu-ú / UN-MEŠ am—mar mar-ṣu-u-ni / gab-bu šul-mu / tu-ra-ma LUGAL be-lí / ša pa-lìḫ DINGIR-MEŠ šu-tu-u-ni / UD-mu ù mu-šú DINGIR-MEŠ ú-ṣal-lu-u-ni /…
Scholarly note
Astrological report from a court scholar to an Assyrian king, edited by Hermann Hunger (SAA 8, 1992). Celestial and meteorological observation correlated with omens. ORACC text P336558.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336558). source
Translation excerpted from Hunger, H. 1992. Astrological Reports to Assyrian Kings. SAA 8. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa08/P336558/.
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