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Sumerian · Book

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A curated narrative reconstruction of humanity's first great civilization, sourced from the tablets themselves. Open scholarship, beautifully accessible.

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Every tablet in the corpus — sortable by date, title or period; filterable by theme and period. Use the controls below or change the URL parameters directly.

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Ubaid Uruk Period Early Dynastic Akkadian Empire Ur III · Neo-Sumerian Old Babylonian Old Assyrian Middle Babylonian Middle Assyrian Neo-Assyrian Neo-Babylonian Achaemenid Persian

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Editorial Sumerian literature Sumerian royal Assyrian royal Assyrian archives

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~670 BCE·Neo-AssyrianOur engine

SAA 08 001. Thunder in Ab, King Ill (RMA 257) [weather]

1. In the month of Ab (month V), Adad raised his voice: the sky was darkened, the heaven rained down, lightning flashed, / waters were withheld in the spring(s). / 1. When Adad cried out on a cloudless day, / it is the 'daummattu'-omen: ditto. Famine will be in the land. / Regarding the unfavorable body[-omen]: / the king, my lord, should not speak from his heart [about this], / illness — that year is it. / As many of the people as are sick — / all [will have] well-being. / It will turn around, and the king, my lord — / he who fears the gods, / day and night the gods will pray for him / …

Religion & Myth·Astronomy & Mathematics

~655 BCE·Neo-AssyrianRINAP 5

Ashurbanipal 084

Links a lunar eclipse, divine omens, and the Elamite king's physical affliction — paralyzed lip, diminished eye — to justify Ashurbanipal's campaign: a rare royal text weaving extispicy logic directly into annalistic narrative.

Religion & Myth·Astronomy & Mathematics