Position in chronology
SAA 10 056. The Meaning of an Earthquake (ABL 0355) [from astrologers]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) To the king, my lord: your servant Balasî. Good health to the king, my lord! May Nabû and Marduk bless the king, my lord! (6) Concerning the interpretation of the omen about which the king, my lord, wrote to me: "(It is said that) the king will be vilified amongst his magnates — what losses will ensue?" — (13) interpretations of monthly omens are like this: one is never similar to another, their interpretations go separately. (r 2) Now this one: if he will be slighted, its explanation can only be the earthquake. It has quaked: that is bad. They should perform the ritual against the…
Source: Parpola, S. 1993. Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars. SAA 10. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa10/P334231/
Why it matters
Transliteration
a-na LUGAL EN-ia / ARAD-ka mba-la-si-i / lu-u DI-mu a-na LUGAL / EN-ia dPA dAMAR.UTU / a-na LUGAL EN-ia / lik-ru-bu ina UGU pi-iš-ri / ša šu-me ša LUGAL be-lí / iš-pur-an-ni ma-a LUGAL / it-ti kab*-tu-ti-šú / i-qal-lil mì-i-nu / ma-a mu-ṭe-e / iš-šak-ku-nu / pi-iš-ra-a-te / šá šu-me ša ITI-MEŠ / ki-i ḫa-an-ni-i-e / 01-en a-na šá-ni-e / la mu-šu-ul / ina bat-ta-ta-a.a / pi-iš-ra-te-šú-nu /…
Scholarly note
Letter from a scholar (astrologer, exorcist, physician, lamentation-priest) to Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal, edited by Simo Parpola (SAA 10, 1993). ORACC text P334231.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P334231). source
Translation excerpted from Parpola, S. 1993. Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars. SAA 10. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa10/P334231/.
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