SAA 10 172. Mars Approaching Libra; Mercury in Capricorn (ABL 1113) [from astrologers]

~670 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·P237252

Translation — scholar edition

SAA 10

High confidence

(beginning destroyed) (1) "Mars has become visible; why have you not written?" — (4) Mars was sighted in the month of Ab (V); now it has approached within 2.5 spans (= 3°30') of Libra. As soon as it has come close to it, I shall write its interpretation to the king, my lord. (r 5) What was sighted now is Mercury in Capricorn; (the sighting) of Mars [...] (Rest destroyed)

State Archives of Assyria, volume 10 — scholar edition (ORACC).

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Transliteration

MUL.ṣal-bat-a-nu / it-tan-mar mi-na-a / la taš-pu-ra / MUL.ṣal-bat-a-nu ina ITI.NE / a-mir en-na it-ti / MUL.ZI.BA.AN.NA / 150 ú-ṭu / iq-te-ru-ub / áš-šá iṭ-ṭe-ḫu-šú / ⸢pi*-šìr*⸣-šú a-na / LUGAL be-lí-ia / a-šap-pa-ra / šá en-na in-nam-ru / MUL.UDU.IDIM.GUD.UD / ina ŠÀ-bi MUL.SUḪUR.MÁŠ.KU₆ / šu-ú šá dṣal-bat-a-nu / [x x] ⸢x⸣ [x x] ⸢x⸣ [x x]

Scholarly note

Letter from a scholar (astrologer, exorcist, physician, lamentation-priest) to Esarhaddon or Ashurbanipal, edited by Simo Parpola (SAA 10, 1993). ORACC text P237252.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P237252). 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/P237252/.

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