Position in chronology
SAA 10 168. Eclipse Predicting the Fall of the Westland (ABL 0137) [from astrologers]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) To the king of the lands, my lord: your servant Zakir. May Nabû and Marduk bless the king of the lands, my lord! May Bel and Nabû keep you alive for long days of happiness and physical well-being, and may they deliver your enemy into your hands! (6) The moon made an eclipse on the 15th of Tebet (X), in the middle watch. It began in the east and shifted to the west — a decidedly evil portent concerning the king of the Westland and his country. (11) Its evil is definite; its evil will befall the king of the Westland and his country. If there is an enemy of the king, my lord, in the West,…
Source: Parpola, S. 1993. Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars. SAA 10. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa10/P237811/
Why it matters
Transliteration
a-na LUGAL KUR.KUR EN-ía ARAD-ka mza-kir / dAG u dAMAR.UTU a-na LUGAL KUR.KUR EN-ía / lik-ru-bu dEN u dAG UD-me ár-ku-ti / šá ṭu-ub ŠÀ-bi ṭu-ub UZU / lu-bal-li-ṭu-ka u LÚ.EN—KÚR-ka / ana ŠU.2-ka lim-nu-ú UD 15-KÁM šá ITI.AB / ina EN.NUN ⸢MURUB₄⸣ [d]30 AN.MI iš-ta-kan / ina IM.KUR ul-tar-[ru] ù UGU / IM.MAR il-⸢ta-ḫa⸣-aṭ / lum-nu* : par-su šá ⸢LUGAL*⸣ MAR.KI / ù KUR-šú lu-[mun]-šú par-su /…
Scholarly note
Letter from a scholar (astrologer, exorcist, physician, lamentation-priest) to Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal, edited by Simo Parpola (SAA 10, 1993). ORACC text P237811.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P237811). 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/P237811/.
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