Omens from the Behavior of the Diviner (K.57)

This tablet belongs to the series "Omens from the Behavior of the Seer" — a Mesopotamian omen collection in which the diviner's own body becomes the text he reads. During the performance of different divinatory procedures — oil omens, bird augury, burrow omens, eclipse observations, censer readings, ram offerings — the seer's involuntary physical reactions carry divine meaning. His trembling, his sneezing, his ease, his illness are all signs.

The obverse catalogues what happens to the seer during specific omen types, then narrows to the seer's bodily reactions during the oracular query itself: spittle flowing during sneezing makes the omen unfavorable; the seer at ease means the goal will not be attained; the seer who falls ill receives Shamash's acknowledgment. The reverse preserves a section of flour-in-water omens (lecanomancy): the flour's direction, buoyancy, and behavior in the water bowl determine the verdict.

The text was copied in the Neo-Assyrian period and found at Nineveh, likely from the Library of Ashurbanipal. It is the Mesopotamian equivalent of reading the reader — the technology turned upon the technician. The colophon identifies it as drawn "from the auspicious days of the diviner's craft."

During the Reading

If [...] the seer has examined and confirmed —
a strong confinement will seize him.

If during the long-day omen — a strong confinement will seize him.

If during a lunar eclipse — in the matter of the king, it will be seized.

If during a solar eclipse — by confinement he will live one year; that house will be scattered.

If during the oil omen — he trembles.

If during the bird omen — Shamash comes to him.

If during the burrow omen — Shamash will overthrow him.

If during the burrow omen — he is persistent; in the steppe he falls.

If during the dove omen — the same.

If during the censer omen — the gods are frightened.

If during the offering of the ram — his prayer is accepted.

If during the late-afternoon ritual — the gods by the torch [...]

Ruling.

The Seer's Body

If the oracle of the omen: the seer — during his sneezing, spittle flows —
the omen is unfavorable.

If [...] becomes visible, and during the offering the seer stands [...]

If [...] the speech of the god — and so in the matter of the king: death.

If [...] he is gnawed at — his omen is disturbed.

If [...] he becomes ill — Shamash nods to him.

If [...] he is at ease — the place set before his eyes will not be attained.

If [...] the seer sits [...] the loosening of all his doing is not well.

End of obverse.

Fragmentary Verdicts

[...] his wish will be achieved.

[...] he has done.

[...] he spoke — his omen is favorable.

Ruling.

The Flour in the Water

If flour is cast: if in the water it goes a second time — the god has received the man's offering.

If in the water it sinks and rises — that man will escape from siege.

If in the water it swells — there will be a clamor of the people, confusion.

If in the water it keeps floating — heartbreak, distress.

If it goes toward the sunrise — the god stands by the man in his offering.

If it goes toward the deep — the man will prevail over his adversary.

If it goes toward death — the enemy will prevail over the sick man.

Ruling.

From the auspicious days of the diviner's craft, written.

Colophon

This is a Good Works Translation of K.57, a Neo-Assyrian clay tablet from the collection of the British Museum, originally from the Library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh (7th century BCE). The text belongs to the series "Omens from the Behavior of the Seer" — a meta-omen collection in which the diviner's own physical state during the ritual carries divinatory significance.

The transliteration is drawn from the Electronic Babylonian Literature (eBL) corpus, a project of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München directed by Enrique Jiménez, licensed CC BY 4.0. The ATF (Assyriological Transliteration Format) provides the cuneiform sign values from which this English translation was independently derived. No existing English translation was consulted or reproduced. The editorial notes in the ATF reference parallel texts (Rm.519+ and K.4097+) that confirmed readings of damaged signs; these are scholarly apparatus, not English sources.

Key terms: DIŠ (šumma, "if") marks each omen entry. AZU (bārû) = "seer/diviner." UR₅.UŠ₂ (tērtu) = "omen/oracle." The divinatory procedures named include: UD.DA.GID₂.DA (long-day solar observation), AN.GI₆ 30/20 (lunar/solar eclipse), I₃+GIŠ (oil omen/lecanomancy), MUŠEN (bird augury), BURU₅.ḪABRUD.DA (burrow omen), NIG₂.NA (censer/libanomancy), SISKUR₂ UDU.NITA₂ (ram offering), and KIN.SIG (late-afternoon ritual). The flour-in-water section (reverse lines 4–10) describes lecanomancy — divination by casting flour (ZI₃, qēmu) into water and reading its behavior. The colophon formula "from the auspicious days of the diviner's craft" (TA U₄-MEŠ DUG₃.GA-MEŠ ša₂ ḪAL-ti) identifies this as drawn from a specific collection of texts associated with favorable days for performing divination.

The inversion pattern — where the seer's distress signals a favorable outcome and the seer's ease signals an unfavorable one — connects this text to the Kataduggû (K.3994, "The Spoken Word"), where "Let me die!" means "he will not die." The Mesopotamian divinatory system reads human involuntary responses as inversions of the divine will.

Translated from Akkadian by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Tansaku, Expeditionary Tulku (Life 210). Thirty-ninth Mesopotamian genre (professional meta-omen / behavioral divination) from expeditionary tulkus.

Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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Source Text: K.57 (ATF Transliteration)

Akkadian cuneiform transliteration from the Electronic Babylonian Literature (eBL) corpus, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, licensed CC BY 4.0. ATF (Assyriological Transliteration Format) conventions: [ ] = restored from parallel manuscripts; # = damaged sign; $ = editorial notation; // = parallel reference. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

@obverse

1. [DIŠ x] x x x x AZU# bi-ra u₂-šab-r[i]
2. ($___$) [m]e-si-ru# dan#-nu# DAB-s[u]
3. [DI]Š ina UD.DA.GID₂.DA me#-si-ru dan-nu DAB-su
4. DIŠ ina AN.GI₆ 30 ina DUG₄ LUGAL DAB#-bat
5. DIŠ ina AN.GI₆ 20 ina me?#-sir₂# MU#.1.KAM@v TI-uṭ E₂ BI BIR#
6. DIŠ ina I₃+GIŠ pa-ri-id#
7. DIŠ ina MUŠEN {d}UTU DU-[s]u
8. DIŠ ina BURU₅.ḪABRUD.DA {d}UTU sa-pi-su?#
9. DIŠ# ina BURU₅.ḪABRUD.DA sa-dir ina EDIN ŠUB-[ut?]
10. [D]IŠ ina TU{mušen} KIMIN [(x)]
11. [DI]Š ina NIG₂.NA DINGIR-MEŠ pa-ar-d[u?]
12. [DIŠ] ina SISKUR₂ UDU.NITA₂# tes₂-lit-su mah-r[at?]
13. [DIŠ] ina KIN.SIG DINGIR-MEŠ ina IZI.GAR UŠ-MEŠ-[x]
    $ single ruling
14. [DIŠ (x)] ta#-mit# UR₅.UŠ₂ ša₂# AZU# ina ši-ta-si-šu₂ UḪ₂-MEŠ i-sal-l[u?]
15. ($___$) [UR₅].UŠ₂ lum#-mu-na-at#
16. [DIŠ x x (x)] x-na?#-mi-ir-ma ina SISKUR₂ AZU GUB-iz
17. [DIŠ x x x x D]UG₄? DINGIR BE-ma ina DUG₄ LUGAL UŠ₂
18. [DIŠ x x x x (x)] u₂#-gan-na-aṣ# UR₅.UŠ₂-šu₂ dal-hat
19. [DIŠ x x x x u₂?]-lab-bi#-in {d}UTU an-na ip-pal-šu₂
20. [DIŠ x x x x u₂?]-na-[a]h-ha-at KI IGI-MEŠ-šu₂ GAR-nu NU KUR
    $ single ruling
21. [DIŠ x x x x x (x)] x du# ma AZU u₂-šab pi₂-ṭir DU₃-šu₂ NU SILIM
    $ end of side

@reverse

1. [...] ṣi-rim-ta-šu₂ KUR-ad₂
2. [...] x DU₃-aš₂
3. [...] iq#-bi UR₅.UŠ₂-šu₂ SIG₅
   $ single ruling
4. [DIŠ ZI₃ na-da ina] A# 2-šu₂ i-la-ku DINGIR SISKUR₂ LU₂ im-hur
5. [DIŠ ina A i]ṭ-bu i-la-a LU₂ BI ina BAD₄ E₃
6. [DIŠ ina A] in-na-pi-ih GU₃-mu ša₂ UN di-il-hu
7. [DIŠ ina] A iš#-ta-na-ap-pu ŠA₃.ḪUL i-dir-tu₄
8. DIŠ# ana!# {d}UTU.E₃ i-lak DINGIR ina SISKUR₂ LU₂ GUB#-iz
9. DIŠ# ana BUR₃ i-lak LU₂ UGU EN INIM-šu₂ GUB-az#
10. DIŠ ana UŠ i-lak KUR₂ UGU GIG-ti NA GU[B (x)]
    $ single ruling
    $ 3 lines blank
11. TA@v U₄-MEŠ DUG₃.GA-MEŠ# x ša₂# {lu₂#}ḪAL-ti# iš-šaṭ-ṭir₂#
    $ 3 lines blank
    $ end of side

Source Colophon

ATF transliteration from the Electronic Babylonian Literature (eBL) corpus, directed by Enrique Jiménez at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. The eBL is freely accessible and licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). The source data was obtained via the eBL's Zenodo deposit (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10018951), a comprehensive JSON export of the corpus containing 23,289 fragments and over 350,000 lines of ATF.

K.57 is a clay tablet from the Kuyunjik collection of the British Museum, excavated from the Library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh. The physical tablet remains in the British Museum's collection.

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