Position in chronology
SAA 08 491. Conjunction of Mars and Saturn (RMA 167) [planetary]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) If on the 16th day the moon and sun are seen together: one king will send (messages of) evil to another; the king will be shut up in his palace for the length of a month; the step of the enemy will be set towards his land; the enemy will march around victoriously. (5) If the moon is surrounded by a halo, and Mars stands in it: loss of ca[ttle; the cu]ltivated fields and dates will not prosper; [variant: the Westl]and will diminish. (8) [If ditto, and the sun] stands [in it]: there will be truth in the land, and [the son] will speak [the truth with his father]. (r 1) [If a planet] reaches…
Source: Hunger, H. 1992. Astrological Reports to Assyrian Kings. SAA 8. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa08/P236957/
Why it matters
Transliteration
1 UD 16-KÁM 30 u 20 KI a-ḫa-meš IGI-MEŠ / LUGAL ana LUGAL ḪUL-⸢tim KIN⸣-ár LUGAL ina É.GAL-šú / a-na ŠID-MEŠ ITI ú-ta-sar / GÌR KÚR ana KUR-šú GAR-an KÚR šal-ṭa-niš DU-MEŠ / 1 30 TÙR NÍGIN-ma MUL.ṣal-bat-a-nu ina ŠÀ-šú GUB / ZÁḪ ⸢bu⸣-[lim] ⸢me⸣-re-šú u ZÚ.LUM.MA NU SI.SÁ / [KI.MIN KUR—MAR].TU.KI TUR / [1 MIN-ma dUTU ina ŠÀ-šú] GUB ina KUR kit-ti GÁL-ma / [DUMU KI AD-šú kit]-ti i-ta-mi / [1…
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 P236957.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P236957). 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/P236957/.
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