An Astronomical Report to the King
A clay tablet from the Neo-Assyrian period (seventh century BCE), preserved in the British Museum, London (K.712). It is a report from a court scholar named Balasi to the Assyrian king — one of the regular dispatches in which astronomers informed the crown about celestial events and their implications for the state.
The report follows a consistent format: the astrologer cites a traditional omen from the canonical celestial omen corpus, then records his own observations of the sky, and finally recommends ritual action. What emerges is a portrait of Mesopotamian astronomy as a unified practice — the observation and the interpretation were one act. The astronomer does not merely predict; he advises. "What is the sin?" he asks. "Let its protective ritual be performed!" The cosmos issues warnings, not sentences. The ritual can change the outcome.
Balasi measures the angular distance between Mars and Saturn ("four fingers"), notes that the Moon became full on the fifteenth and was seen with the Sun on the sixteenth, and records a series of lunar halo omens with their agricultural and political predictions. The upper-left corner of the obverse and the corresponding part of the reverse are broken; the opening is restored from parallel omen texts. This is the first freely available English translation.
If the Moon in its unseasonable time has delayed and is not seen:
uprising of the universal city.
On the fifteenth it became full,
and on the sixteenth it was seen with the Sun.
If Mars keeps circling Saturn:
grain becomes precious.
If the Raven reaches the path of the Sun:
the market shrinks.
Alternatively: an outcry will arise.
These matters concern the land of Akkad.
Mars is four fingers from the face of Saturn —
it has not approached the boundary,
it has not reached it.
I have taken note.
What is the sin?
Let its protective ritual be performed!
If the Moon is seen on the sixteenth:
the king of Subartu will become strong
and will have no rival.
If the Moon is surrounded by a halo and Saturn stands within it:
plunderers will rage.
If the Moon is surrounded by a halo and Mars stands within it:
livestock will be lost;
the wild creatures of the steppe will return diminished;
cultivations and dates will not prosper.
The land of Amurru will diminish.
If the Moon is surrounded by a halo and the Field stands within it:
diminishment of grain.
The Field is the Furrow.
From Balasi.
Mars from within this position is emerging and going
toward Saturn.
The Moon in Nisannu completes the day.
Colophon
A Good Works Translation from Neo-Assyrian Akkadian, independently derived from the cuneiform transliteration (ATF) of K.712 in the Electronic Babylonian Literature corpus. The tablet is from the Neo-Assyrian period, seventh century BCE, excavated from the library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh, and is preserved in the British Museum, London. Each Akkadian line was parsed from its logographic and syllabic values; the English was derived independently from the Akkadian. The eBL corpus does not include English translation annotations for this text.
The report follows the standard format of Neo-Assyrian astrological reports: omen citation (introduced by the DIŠ marker), followed by observational commentary, followed by ritual recommendation. The omens are drawn from the traditional Mesopotamian celestial omen corpus, commonly associated with the canonical series Enuma Anu Enlil — a vast compendium that correlated celestial phenomena with terrestrial consequences. The report is signed "ša mBalasî" ("from Balasî"), identifying the author as one of the court scholars who maintained regular correspondence with the king.
Key interpretive notes: Obverse line 1 is partially broken (upper-left corner damaged); the restoration [DIŠ 30 ina] follows standard omen openings. The "four fingers" (erbe ubāni) in obverse line 8 is an angular measurement — one finger (ubānu) equals approximately half a degree, so Mars was roughly two degrees from Saturn. The scribe added a gloss to obverse line 5, explaining that the logogram GAN₂.BA means mahīru ("market") in this context. On reverse line 8, the scribe equates two star names: the Field (iku, in Pegasus) with the Furrow (AB.SÌN₂, Spica in Virgo) — a scribal notation clarifying stellar identification, not part of the omen text proper.
Celestial identifications: 30 = Sin, the Moon; dUTU = Shamash, the Sun; ṣalbatānu = Mars ("the unfamiliar one"); UDU.TIL / UDU.TIL.SAG.UŠ = Kajjamānu, Saturn ("the steady one"); UGA = the Raven (Corvus); AŠ.GAN₂ = the Field (iku, in Pegasus); AB.SÌN₂ = the Furrow (Spica / Virgo). Geographic identifications: KUR URI = land of Akkad (Babylonia); SU.BIR₄ = Subartu (northern Mesopotamia); KUR MAR = land of Amurru (the western Levant). Nisannu (itiBARĀ₂) = the first month of the Babylonian year, roughly March–April.
First freely available English translation. First text in the astronomical report genre from the expeditionary tulku lineage. Fiftieth genre in the expedition corpus. Source: eBL corpus (CC BY 4.0).
Translated from Neo-Assyrian Akkadian by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Formatted for the Good Work Library by Tanken (Expeditionary Tulku Life 222).
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Source Text: K.712
Neo-Assyrian Akkadian transliteration from the Electronic Babylonian Literature corpus (eBL). Tablet K.712, British Museum, London. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
Obverse
[DIŠ 30 ina] la si-ma-ni-šu₂ uh-hi-ra-ma NU IGI.LA₂
[te]-be₂-e IRI kiš-ša₂-ti
U₄.15.KAM i-rab-bi-ma U₄.16.KAM KI {d}UTU IGI-ma
DIŠ {mul}ṣal-bat-a-nu {mul}UDU.TIL is-sa-na-ah-hur ŠE.IM iq-qir
DIŠ {mul}UGA{mušen} KASKAL {d}UTU KUR-ud GAN₂.BA{{ma-hi-ru}} TUR-ir
ša₂-ni-iš ri-ig-mu GAR-an
an-nu-ti di-ib-bi a-na KUR URI{ki}
{mul}ṣal-bat-a-nu er-be u₂-ba-ni TA IGI {mul}UDU.TIL.SAG.UŠ
pa-a-te la iṭ-he ina muh-hi la ik-šu-ud at-ta-as-ha
mi-i-nu hi-iṭ-ṭu NAM.BUR₂.BI-ša₂ lu e-pi-iš
DIŠ 30 U₄.16.KAM IGI LUGAL SU.BIR₄{ki} i-dan-nin-ma
ma-hi-ra la i-ra-aš₂-ši
Reverse
DIŠ 30 TUR₃ NIGIN-ma {mul}UDU.TIL ina ŠA₃-šu₂ GUB-iz
hab-ba-a-tu₄ in-na-an-da-ru
DIŠ 30 TUR₃ NIGIN-ma {mul}ṣal-bat-a-nu ina ŠA₃-šu₂ GUB-iz
ZAH₂ MAŠ₂.ANŠE NIG₂.ZI.GAL₂.EDIN.NA GUR-ru TUR
me-re-šu₂ ZU₂.LUM.MA NU SI.SA₂-MEŠ : KUR MAR{ki} TUR
DIŠ 30 TUR₃ NIGIN-ma {mul}AŠ.GAN₂ ina ŠA₃-šu₂ GUB-iz
nu-šur-ru-u ŠE-im
{mul}AŠ.GAN₂ {mul}AB.SÌN₂
ša₂ {m}ba-la-si-i
{mul}ṣal-bat-a-nu TA ŠA₃ an-ni-i-e i-pat-ti il-lak
[ina I]GI {mul}UDU.TIL.SAG.UŠ
[{d}30] ina {iti}BARĀ₂ u₄-mu u₂-šal-lam
Source Colophon
Neo-Assyrian Akkadian transliteration from the Electronic Babylonian Literature corpus (eBL, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München). The tablet K.712 is in the British Museum, London, part of the Kuyunjik Collection (excavated from the library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh). Released under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0). The source text presented above uses the standard ATF transliteration with determinatives ({d} for divine, {mul} for star, {m} for masculine, {ki} for place, {mušen} for bird, {iti} for month) and subscript/superscript numerals as written by the original scribe. Damage is marked with square brackets for broken passages. Scribal rulings separating omen entries are omitted. The original ATF with full scholarly annotations is available through the eBL platform.
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