Sumerian·Book

Position in chronology

SAA 10 159. Eclipse Update (ABL 0765) [from astrologers]

~670 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·P237039

Translation · reference

High confidence
(1) [To the king], my lord: your servant Bel-naṣir. (2) [In Tishri (VII)] there was no watch for the moon. (3) [On] the 28th of [Tishri (VII)] the sun made an eclipse; in Marchesvan (VIII) the moon [let] the eclipse [pass] by. (5) Now then, in Nisan (I), (6) [... pr]evious [...] (7) [... pr]evious [...] (Break) (r 1) [... on the x]th [...] (r 2) [...] I shall not write (r 3) [...] If (r 4) [... ga]thered (r 5) The king should dispel [unfavourable] thoughts from his heart.

Source: Parpola, S. 1993. Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars. SAA 10. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa10/P237039/

Why it matters

Transliteration

[a-na LUGAL] EN-ia ARAD-ka mdEN—ŠEŠ-ir / [ina ITI.DU₆] ⸢EN⸣.NUN šá d30 ia-a-nu / [ina ITI.DU₆ UD] ⸢28⸣-KÁM dUTU AN.MI / [il-ta-kan] ⸢ina⸣ ITI.APIN d30 AN.MI / [ul-te-ti]-⸢iq⸣ ina ITI.BARAG en-⸢na⸣ / [x x x] ⸢pa⸣-ni-i i-⸢x⸣+[x x x] / [x x x] ⸢pa⸣-ni-i [x x x x] / [x ITI.x UD x]-KÁM [x x x] / [x x x x] ul a-šap-pa-ra / [x x x x]+⸢x⸣ ki-i / [x x ú]-⸢paḫ⸣-ḫi-ru / [x x x x]+⸢x⸣-tú LUGAL a-mat / [la SIG₅? TA] ⸢ŠÀ⸣-bi-šú liš-du-ud

Scholarly note

Letter from a scholar (astrologer, exorcist, physician, lamentation-priest) to Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal, edited by Simo Parpola (SAA 10, 1993). ORACC text P237039.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P237039). 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/P237039/.

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