Position in chronology
SAA 08 377. Antares in Lunar Halo (RMA 215) [planetary]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) Mercury did not [...]; the moon did not [rea]ch the sun, it set before the sun. Antares, which stood at the right horn of the moon, did not come close to the [mo]on; it will not affect (it) at all. (7) If Scorpius stands in the halo of the moon, it is (a sign) for rain and flood. The king has seen its sign; Adad will devastate. (r 3) In Iyyar (II) on the 15th day let him pray to Ea in supplication; let him release a prisoner; his possessions will become (an object) of praise. (r 6) From Nabû-šuma-iškun.
Source: Hunger, H. 1992. Astrological Reports to Assyrian Kings. SAA 8. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa08/P237761/
Why it matters
Transliteration
dGUD.UD ul ⸢x⸣+[x x]+⸢x⸣ / d30 dUTU ul [ik]-⸢šu⸣-ud / ina IGI dUTU ir-ta-bi / MUL.GABA—GÍR.TAB šá ina SI 15 30 / iz-zi-zu a-na d⸢30*⸣ / ul TE mim-ma ul i-lap-pat / 1 MUL.GÍR.TAB ina TÙR 30 / it-ta-ši-iz ana A.AN u A.KAL / GISKIM-šú LUGAL i-ta-mar / dIM i-ra-ḫi-iṣ / 1 ina ITI.GUD UD 15-KÁM ana dÉ.A [liš]-ken / šá—EN.NUN BAR-ir mim-mu-šú / ana ta-na-da-a-ti GAR-an / šá mdPA—MU—GAR-un
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 P237761.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P237761). 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/P237761/.
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.