Position in chronology
SAA 08 054. Morning First of Jupiter in Leo (RMA 191) [planetary]
Translation — scholar edition
SAA 8(1) If Jupiter [becomes visible] in [Ab (V)]: the land will experience joy. (3) If Jupiter [rises] in the path of the [Enlil] stars: the king of Akkad will become strong and [overthrow] his enemies in all lands in battle. (6) If the stars of Leo [...]: the king [will be victorious] wher[ever he] goes. Star [......]. (r 2) If J[upiter ......] the king of Akkad [......]. (r 4) Jupiter [......]. (rest destroyed)
State Archives of Assyria, volume 8 — scholar edition (ORACC).
Spotted an error? Suggest a correction — confirmed corrections feed the engine's knowledge base.
Transliteration
1 MUL.SAG.ME.GAR ina ITI.[NE IGI?] / KUR / A.ŠI.ŠI-ṣa / ⸢IGI⸣ / 1 MUL.SAG.ME.GAR ina KASKAL šu-ut [dEN.LÍL KUR-ḫa] / LUGAL URI.KI i-dan-ni-[in-ma] / ina KUR.KUR / na-ki-ri-šú / ina GIŠ.TUKUL [ú-šam-qat] / 1 MUL.UR.MAḪ MUL-MEŠ-šú ⸢il⸣-[tap-pu-ú] / 3.20 / a-⸢šar⸣ [il]-⸢la-ku⸣ [li-is-su] / MUL [x x x x x x x x] / [x x x x x x x x] / 1 MUL.⸢SAG⸣.[ME.GAR? x x x x] / LUGAL URI.KI ⸢x⸣+[x x x x x x] / MUL.SAG.ME.GAR [x x x x x x] / [x x x x x x x]
Scholarly note
Astrological report from a court scholar to an Assyrian king, edited by Hermann Hunger (SAA 8, 1992). Celestial and meteorological observation correlated with omens. ORACC text P336494.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P336494). source
Translation excerpted from Hunger, H. 1992. Astrological Reports to Assyrian Kings. SAA 8. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa08/P336494/.
Related tablets
Related sources
Whatever its purpose, this single tablet shows that Babylonian mathematicians, working in base-60, had an arithmetic understanding of right triangles a millennium before Pythagoras was born.
The single most important literary discovery of the 19th century. It rewired the understanding of the Bible's literary context and proved that the Mesopotamian flood tradition is older. It is the oldest surviving epic poetry in human history.
The literary tradition is no longer anonymous from this point. Authorship — the idea that a specific human voice composes a specific work — enters the historical record with her.