SAA 10 023. Refuting a Sighting of Mercury (ABL 0037) [from astrologers]


Obverse
o 1o 1	a-na LUGAL EN-[ia]	(1) To the king, my lord: your servant Issar-šumu-ereš. Good health to the king, my lord! May Nabû and Marduk bless the king, my lord!
o 22	ARAD-ka ^m15—MU—KAM-eš
o 33	lu DI-mu a-na LUGAL EN-⸢ia⸣
o 44	^dPA u ^dAMAR.UTU
o 55	a-na LUGAL EN-ía lik-ru-bu
o 66	ša LUGAL be-li iš-pur-an-ni	(6) As to what the king, my lord, wrote to me: "One of your colleagues wrote to me: the planet Mercury will be visible in the month Nisan (I). What do you take the present month to be?" — we take the present month to be Adar (XII) and we take this day to be the 25th.
o 77	ma-a 01-en ina LÚ.ki-na-ta-ti-ku-nu
o 88	is-sap-ra ma-a ^dUDU.IDIM
o 99	ina ITI.BARAG IGI.LAL
o 1010	ma-a ITI an-ni-u mì-i-nu tu-kal-la
o 1111	ITI an-ni-u ITI.ŠE nu-ka-la
o 1212	UD-mu an-ni-u UD 25-KÁM nu-ka-la
o 1313	[x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣-ra-ni ka ⸢x⸣ ḫu	(13) [...]...
o 1414	[x x x x x x] an-ni-tú	(14) [The person who] wrote this [... to the king, my lord, ...]
o 1515	[a-na LUGAL EN-ia] ⸢iš⸣-pur-an-ni
o 1616	[x x x x x x x LUGAL] ⸢EN⸣-ia
o 1717	[x x x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ šú
Bottom
b.e.b.e.	broken away	(Break)
Reverse
r 1r 1	[x x x x x x x x x]
r 22	[x x x x]-⸢bu^⸣-šú^-⸢ni^*⸣
r 33	[ma-a^* la] mu-de-e šip-ri	(r 3) "An incompetent one can frustrate [a j]udge, an uneducated one can make the mighty worry" — this is what is said.
r 44	[da]-⸢a.a^*⸣-nu ú-šá-an-na-aḫ
r 55	la mu-de-e a-ma-ti
r 66	ú-šá-an-za-qa dan-nu
r 77	an-ni-u šu-u šá qa-bu-u-ni
r 88	ina UGU ^ddil-bat	(r 8) Concerning the planet Venus about which the king, my lord, wrote to me: "When will you tell me (what) 'Venus is stable in the morning' (means)?" —
r 99	ša LUGAL be-li iš-pur-an-ni
r 1010	ma-a ^ddil-bat
r 1111	ina še-re-e-ti i-kun
r 1212	a-na ma-a-ti ta-qab-bi-ia
r 1313	ki-i an-ni-i	(r 13) it is [writte]n as follows in the commentary: "Venus [is stable] in the morning: (the word) 'morning' (here) means [to be bright], it is shinin[g brightly], (and the expression) '[its] posi[tion is stable]' means it [is lighted] in the west."
r 1414	ina mu-kal-lim-⸢ti^*⸣ [šà]-⸢ṭir⸣
r 1515	ma-a ^ddil-⸢bat⸣
r 1616	ina še-re-ti [i-kun]
r 1717	ma-a še-⸢e^*⸣-[ru na-ma-ru]
r 1818	šá-ru-⸢ru^*⸣ [na-ši-ma]
r 1919	KI^*.[GUB-sà GI.NA]
Right
r.e. 20r.e. 20	ina ⸢UD^*-mu^?⸣ [x x x]

Adapted from Simo Parpola, Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars (State Archives of Assyria, 10), 1993. Lemmatised by Mikko Luukko, 2016, as part of the research programme of the Alexander von Humboldt Chair in the Ancient History of the Near and Middle East at LMU Munich (Karen Radner, Humboldt Professorship 2015). The annotated edition is released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license 3.0. Please cite this page as http://oracc.org/saao/P333989/.