Position in chronology
SAA 08 308. Red Sun (RMA 181) [lunar]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) If the sun rises and (is as if) dyed red: this land will disappear. (2) If the sun rises and is red: plenty for the people, variant: battle will be done in the land, variant: rebellion, variant: losses for the king of all lands. (4) If the sun at its rising carries red radiance: an eclipse will take place, and Adad will devastate. (6) The morning watch concerns Elam. This sign came at sunrise. (r 2) If Adad thunders in Iyyar (II): emmer wheat and flax will not prosper. (r 4) The star about which I spoke to the king my lord is very faint; it has not yet ascended, and so I have not identified it. (r 7) From Zakir.
Source: Hunger, H. 1992. Astrological Reports to Assyrian Kings. SAA 8. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa08/P240145/
Why it matters
Transliteration
1 20 KUR-ma SA₅ ṣa-rip KUR BI ZÁḪ / 1 20 KUR-ma SA₅ nu-ḫuš UN-ME : MÈ ina KUR GAR / : ḪI.GAR : tam-ṭa-a-ti ana LUGAL KUR DÙ.A.BI / 1 20 ina KUR-šú ŠE.ER.ZI SA₅ ÍL* AN.MI GAR-ma / dIM RA-iṣ / EN.NUN šá še-e-ri šá KUR.NIM.KI / ina ni-pi-iḫ dUTU it-tum an-nit / ta-at-tal-ka / 1 ina ITI.GUD dIM GÙ-šú ŠUB ZÍZ.ÀM / u GU-ú? NU SI.SÁ-ME / MUL šá ana LUGAL EN-ía aq-bu ma-aʾ-diš / un-nu-ut a-din-nu ul i-šaq-qam-ma / ul ú-mas-si / šá mza-kir
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 P240145.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P240145). 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/P240145/.
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