Sumerian·Book

Position in chronology

SAA 10 059. Assigning a Date for a Dream Ritual (ABL 0076) [from astrologers]

~670 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·P334025

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! (7) Concerning the ... about which the king, my lord, wrote to me — the dream rituals should be performed on the 13th day, in the morning. On the 13th day the [moon] will be cover[ed] with the crown of splendour. Afterw[ards], [...] on the 14th day, [the moon] will be seen in opposition to the sun, a good oracular utterance will answer you. (r 6) May Aššur, Bel, Nabû and Šamaš bless the king, my lord! May they give life of distant days, old age and fullness of life to the king, my lord! (r 13) The 13th is a propitious day; let them perform it.

Source: Parpola, S. 1993. Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars. SAA 10. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa10/P334025/

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 ge-⸢en*-ti*⸣ / ša LUGAL be-[lí] iš-[pur-an]-ni / UD 13-KÁM ina* ⸢ša*⸣—še*-ra-a-⸢ti*⸣ / mu-šu-ta-⸢ti*⸣ / le-pu-⸢šu⸣ / UD 13-KÁM d[30] / a-ge-e / ta-áš-ri-iḫ-⸢ti⸣ / a-pi-[ir] / ḫa-⸢ra*⸣-[ma-ma] / a-⸢x⸣+[x x x] / UD 14-KAMv [d30] / it-ti dUTU ⸢in*⸣-[na-mar] / gi-ir*-ru-u SIG₅…

Scholarly note

Letter from a scholar (astrologer, exorcist, physician, lamentation-priest) to Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal, edited by Simo Parpola (SAA 10, 1993). ORACC text P334025.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P334025). 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/P334025/.

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