Sumerian·Book

Position in chronology

SAA 10 079. Ominous Sunrise (ABL 0405) [from astrologers]

~670 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·P334276

Translation · reference

High confidence
(1) [To the king], my [lord]: [your servant Nabû-ahhe]-eriba. Good health to the king, my lord! May Nabû and Marduk bless the king, my lord! (6) Concerning the sunrise about which the king, my lord, wrote to me, it is said (in the tablets) as follows: (9) If the glow of the day is like smoke, Adad will cause destruction in the springtime. (12) If the day is gloomy and rides the north wind: devouring by Nergal, the cattle will diminish. (15) The day (means) the sun. (16) Tomorrow we shall not see the sun when it sets: it will set amidst a reddish glow. (r 2) Dust storms whirled. (r 4) (That is…

Source: Parpola, S. 1993. Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars. SAA 10. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa10/P334276/

Why it matters

Transliteration

[a-na LUGAL EN]-ia / [ARAD-ka mdPA—PAB]-MEŠ—SU / lu šul-mu a-na LUGAL EN-ia / dPA dAMAR.UTU a-na LUGAL / EN-ia lik-ru-bu / ina UGU ni-ip-ḫi ša dšá-maš / ša LUGAL be-lí iš-pur-an-ni / a-ki an-ni-e qa-bi / 1 UD-mu MÚŠ-MEŠ-šú / zi-mu-šú / ki-ma qut-ri ina IGI MU / qu-ut-ri šá-at-ti / dIM RA-iṣ / 1 UD-mu a-dir-ma IM.SI.SÁ / ra-kib ú-kul-ti dU.GUR / bu-ul TUR-ir / UD-mu dšá-maš / dšá-maš ina…

Scholarly note

Letter from a scholar (astrologer, exorcist, physician, lamentation-priest) to Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal, edited by Simo Parpola (SAA 10, 1993). ORACC text P334276.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P334276). 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/P334276/.

Related tablets

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