Days of Ayyaru and Simānu
A Neo-Babylonian hemerology — a calendar of favorable and unfavorable days — covering the second and third months of the Babylonian year (Ayyaru, roughly April–May, and Simānu, roughly May–June). Each day of the month carries a brief prescription: favorable or unfavorable, what to do or avoid, what spiritual forces are active.
Hemerologies were the daily handbooks of Mesopotamian life. Unlike the great omen series that required specialist interpretation, the almanac spoke directly: today is good for marriage; today, do not eat fish; today, kill a snake. They reveal more about ordinary Babylonian existence than any royal inscription — the texture of superstition, caution, and hope that governed each morning's decisions.
BM.42312 is a Late Babylonian clay tablet now in the British Museum. It preserves a complete thirty-day calendar for each of the two months, written in the terse shorthand of working divination — logograms and abbreviations that a practicing priest could scan at a glance. The genre is classified as "Babylonian Almanac" within the larger hemerology tradition.
Month Ayyaru
The second month of the Babylonian year. The Bull of Heaven.
Day 1 — Favorable.
Day 2 — A mystery. Favorable.
Day 3 — Grain shall not be given.
Day 4 — The street is seized — do not seize.
Day 5 — Do not take a wife. Not an established one.
Day 6 — Take a wife. An established one.
Day 7 — Unfavorable.
Day 8 — A mystery. Favorable.
Day 9 — Do not eat the small-craft fish. Sickness will seize him.
Day 10 — Judgment: favorable.
Day 11 — Judgment: unfavorable.
Day 12 — In the street: favorable.
Day 13 — On this day he shall not work.
Day 14 — Absolution.
Day 15 — Sowing is completed.
Day 16 — Joy of heart.
Day 17 — Unfavorable.
Day 18 — Purity. Release.
Day 19 — An oath shall not be sworn. A god will seize him.
Day 20 — Kill a snake! A matter of first importance.
Day 21 — Joyful occasions.
Day 22 — Judgment: favorable.
Day 23 — Heart not good.
Day 24 — Heart joyful.
Day 25 — Do not take her as a wife.
Day 26 — Good tidings.
Day 27 — Slander.
Day 28 — Universally favorable.
Day 29 — Kill a snake!
Day 30 — A good day.
Month Simānu
The third month of the Babylonian year. The Brickwork.
Day 1 — Unfavorable.
Day 2 — Unfavorable.
Day 3 — Grain. The god's release: a man's enemy — his evil is loosened from him.
Day 4 — Unfavorable.
Day 5 — Joy of heart.
Day 6 — Do not buy a slave. Heart not good.
Day 7 — Revolt.
Day 8 — Unfavorable.
Day 9 — Universally favorable.
Day 10 — Unfavorable.
Day 11 — The house-god is favorable in the house.
Day 12 — The street-god is favorable in the street.
Day 13 — A mystery. Favorable.
Day 14 — Unfavorable.
Day 15 — One will acquire a guardian spirit.
Day 16 — The god is favorable.
Day 17 — The Lady is unfavorable.
Day 18 — Slander.
Day 19 — Unfavorable.
Day 20 — Eclipse of the sun.
Day 21 — Do not board a boat.
Day 22 — Division of shares.
Day 23 — Unfavorable.
Day 24 — The Lady is favorable.
Day 25 — The god is unfavorable.
Day 26 — Do not take a wife. The evil reed. Sickness.
Day 27 — The Lady is favorable.
Day 28 — In judgment: favorable.
Day 29 — In judgment: unfavorable.
Day 30 — The naming day.
Colophon
BM.42312. A Neo-Babylonian hemerology (Babylonian Almanac type) covering the months Ayyaru (II) and Simānu (III). Clay tablet, British Museum collection. The text preserves a complete sixty-day calendar of favorable and unfavorable days — the twenty-fifth Mesopotamian genre translated from the eBL corpus by the expeditionary tulku lineage.
Hemerologies are among the most practical texts in the Mesopotamian scribal tradition. Where the great omen series (Enūma Anu Enlil, Šumma ālu, Šumma izbu) required specialist interpretation of observed phenomena, the almanac was a ready reference — a priest or householder could consult it each morning to know whether the day was propitious for marriage, commerce, travel, or legal proceedings. The alternation of favorable and unfavorable days, the dietary prohibitions, the snake-killing injunctions, and the cryptic single-word entries (Absolution. Revolt. Slander.) reveal a world governed by invisible rhythms that the calendar made legible.
Translated from the cuneiform transliteration by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Source: Electronic Babylonian Literature (eBL) corpus, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (CC BY 4.0).
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Source Text: Cuneiform Transliteration (ATF)
Transliteration from the Electronic Babylonian Literature (eBL) corpus, LMU Munich. Neo-Babylonian period. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
Obverse (Month Ayyaru)
{iti}GU₄ U₄.1.KAM ŠE.GA
2 IDIM ŠE.GA
3 ŠE NU SUM.MU
4 SILA DIB NU DIB
5 DAM NU TUK NU LIBIR.RA
6 DAM TUK LIBIR.RA
7 NU ŠE.GA
8 IDIM ŠE.GA
9 KIN.TUR{ku₆} NU GU₇ GIG DAB-su
10 DI ŠE.GA
11 DI NU ŠE
12 in SILA ŠE
13 ki ud la i-pe₂-eš
14 pi₂-is-la-tu₂
15 ŠE.NUMUN ŠU.DU₇
16 ŠA₃.HUL₂
17 NU ŠE
18 za-ku-tu₂ pu-šur
19 ma-mit NU KU₅ DINGIR DAB-su
20 MUŠ HE₂.EN.GAZ SAG.KAL-tu₂ DU
21 da-ṣi₂-a-tu₄
22 DI ŠE
23 ŠA₃ NU DU₁₀.GA
24 ŠA₃ HUL₂.LA
25 DAM NU TUK-ši
26 bu-su-ra-tu₂
27 kar-ṣa
28 ka-liš ŠE.GA
29 MUŠ HE₂.EN.GAZ
30 u₄-um SIG₅
Reverse (Month Simānu)
{iti}SIG₄ U₄.1.KAM NU ŠE.GA
2 NU ŠE.GA
3 ŠE pu-šu-ur DINGIR LU₂.RA HUL-šu DU₈-ar₂
4 NU ŠE.GA
5 ŠA₃.HUL₂
6 SAG.IR₃ NU ŠAM₂ ŠA₃ NU DU₁₀.GA
7 ba-ar-tu₄
8 NU ŠE
9 ka-liš ŠE
10 NU ŠE
11 DINGIR E₂ ina E₂ ŠE
12 DINGIR SILA ina SILA ŠE
13 IDIM ŠE
14 NU ŠE
15 {d}LAMMA TUK
16 DINGIR ŠE
17 GAŠAN NU ŠE
18 ka-ar-ṣi
19 NU ŠE.GA
20 AN.TA.LU₃ {d}UTU
21 {giš}MA₂ NU U₅
22 zi-it-tu₂
23 NU ŠE
24 GAŠAN ŠE
25 DINGIR NU ŠE
26 DAM NA.AN.TUK.TUK GI.HUL.HUL GIG
27 GAŠAN ŠE
28 in DI ŠE
29 ina DI NU ŠE
30 MU.PAD₃.DA
Source Colophon
Cuneiform transliteration from the Electronic Babylonian Literature (eBL) platform, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (https://www.ebl.lmu.de/). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. The physical tablet (BM.42312) is held by the British Museum, London. Neo-Babylonian period (c. 626–539 BCE).
The English translation was independently derived from reading the Sumerian logograms and Akkadian syllabic writing in the ATF transliteration. No existing English translation was consulted or available. Standard lexical references: the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary (CAD) and the Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary (ePSD) informed sign readings.
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