Position in chronology
SAA 08 095. Saturn Near Moon (RMA 176) [planetary]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) If the sun stays in the position of the moon: the king of the land will sit firmly on the throne. (3) [If] a sun disk stands above the moon (and) below the moon: the foundation of the throne will become stable; the king of the land will stay in his truth. (6) If the sun disk and the moon are in opposition: the king of the land will widen his understanding. (r 1) Tonight Saturn approached the moon. Saturn is the star of the sun, (and) the relevant interpretation is as follows: it is good for the king. The sun is the star of the king.
Source: Hunger, H. 1992. Astrological Reports to Assyrian Kings. SAA 8. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa08/P336485/
Why it matters
Transliteration
1 dUTU ina man-za-zi d30 GUB-iz / LUGAL KUR ina GIŠ.GU.ZA i-ka-na / [1] AŠ.ME AN.TA-nu 30 KI.TA-nu 30 GUB-iz / SUḪUŠ GIŠ.GU.ZA i-ka-na / LUGAL KUR ina kit-ti-šú GUB-az / 1 AŠ.ME u 30 šu-ta-tu-u / LUGAL KUR uz-nu ú-rap-pa-áš / mu-šú MI an-ni-i-ú / MUL.UDU.IDIM.SAG.UŠ a-na d30 / iq-ṭi-ri-ib MUL.UDU.IDIM.SAG.UŠ / MUL : dUTU šu-ú / ki-i an-ni-i-e / pi-še-er-šú SIG₅ šá LUGAL šu-u / dUTU MUL šar-ri šu-u
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 P336485.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336485). 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/P336485/.
Related tablets
Related sources
Whatever its purpose, this single tablet shows that Babylonian mathematicians, working in base-60, had an arithmetic understanding of right triangles a millennium before Pythagoras was born.
The single most important literary discovery of the 19th century. It rewired the understanding of the Bible's literary context and proved that the Mesopotamian flood tradition is older. It is the oldest surviving epic poetry in human history.
The literary tradition is no longer anonymous from this point. Authorship — the idea that a specific human voice composes a specific work — enters the historical record with her.