Sumerian·Book

Position in chronology

SAA 08 055. Venus Approaching Scorpius (RMA 112) [planetary]

~670 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·P336434

Translation · reference

High confidence
(1) [If the moon] is surrounded [by a halo] and Cancer stands [in it]: the king of Akkad will extend the life. (3) This [night] (the moon) was surrounded by a halo, it did not close. (4) [If] the moon is surrounded by a drawing: there will be an eclipse. (5) Eclipse (means) trouble. (6) This night (the moon) was surrounded by a drawing, it did not close. (7) If Venus comes close to Scorpius: winds which are not good will blow towards the land; Adad will give his rains, and Ea his springs, to the Gutian land. (r 3) If (Venus) came close to the Breast of Scorpius, it would be copied like this;…

Source: Hunger, H. 1992. Astrological Reports to Assyrian Kings. SAA 8. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa08/P336434/

Why it matters

Transliteration

[1 30 TÙR] NIGIN-ma MUL.AL.LUL / [ina ŠÀ-šú] GUB-iz LUGAL URI.KI TI.LA ur-rak / [mu-šu] an-ni-ú TÙR NIGIN la ik-ṣur / [1] d30 GIŠ.ḪUR NIGIN AN.MI / GAR-an / AN.MI du-luḫ-ḫu-u / mu-šu an-ni-ú GIŠ.ḪUR NIGIN la ik-ṣur / 1 MUL.dil-bat a-na MUL.GÍR.TAB TE-ḫi / TU₁₅-MEŠ / NU DÙG.GA-MEŠ a-na KUR il-la-ku / dIM A.AN-MEŠ-šú dÉ.A nag-bi-šú / ana KUR gu-ti-e i-nam-din / ki-ma a-na MUL.GABA—GÍR.TAB iṭ-ṭi-ḫi…

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 P336434.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336434). 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/P336434/.

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