With 120 tablets, the series šumma ālu ina melê šakin, ‘If a city is set on a height’, is the longest omen series from the first millennium. It contains all kinds of ‘terrestrial’ omens, i. e., phenomena on ‘earth’ in the broadest sense of the term. This includes the behavior of humans and animals, phenomena in houses, on the street, supposedly random encounters between people, sexual activity, etc.

In Ḫattuša, these omens are rarer, especially compared to the number of tablets concerning the stars, births, or extispicy. Laroche separated them into two groups: those concerning people (CTH 536 ‘présages corporels (série šumma âlu)’) and those concerning animals (CTH 544, Comportement d’animaux; also Laroche E. 1971c: 112–13). They contained the texts KUB 29.9 obv., KUB 29.10, KUB 34.21, IBoT 2.132+, KBo 13.13, and KBo 13.28 (CTH 536), as well as KUB 34.22 and KBo 13.29. He separated from these ‘corporal presages’ the ‘Physiognomie’ (CTH 543), with CHDS 4.131 (Bo 6263), HT 41, and KUB 43.8–9.

This genre separation follows the first-millennium distinction between physiognomic omens in the series šumma alamdimmû and terrestrial omens in šumma ālu. However, when looking at the material, this separation is somewhat artificial. KBo 34.129 and its duplicates pertain to a man entering a house and his behavior while sleeping, but also to his lips, thus combining terrestrial and physiognomic omens, a feature that is found on Old Babylonian tablets (Köcher F. – Oppenheim A.L. 1957a; Böck B. 2000a: 300–303). As many tablets are fragmentary, it is often difficult to tell whether lines beginning with šumma awīlu or takku antuḫšaš belong to physiognomic or terrestrial omens. Even in the first millennium, there are overlaps between the two series, acknowledging the similarities in topics.

Riemschneider’s edition therefore used a single category ‘Physiognomie und Körperbeobachtung’ for CTH 536 and 543, with HT 41, KUB 37.210, CHDS 4.131 (Bo 6263) (observation of body parts in Akkadian), IBoT 2.132+, KUB 34.21, KBo 34.130, KUB 34.132, KUB 43.8 (observation of body parts in Hittite), and KUB 29.9 obv., KUB 29.10, KUB 43.9 (behavior of a man; Riemschneider K.K. 2004a: 6–7). KBo 13.28 is missing from his edition, and it is likely not an omen text (see below). The animal omens were grouped separately (KBo 13.29 obv. II, KUB 34.22; KBo 34.131; KBo 34.136), a distinction which our edition retains.

Following the catalogs of Laroche and Riemschneider, KBo 39.203 was identified as ‘perhaps to CTH 536 (présages corporels)’ by H. Otten and Ch. Rüster in KBo 39, VI, and KUB 4.53, a supposed medical omen, was identified as a terrestrial omen about a flame by Rutz M.T. 2012a. KUB 43.14 was identified as an animal omen fragment by Sakuma Y. 2009b: 383.

Despite the fragmentary state of most of the texts, this study has identified and reassigned a number of fragments. KBo 34.130 and its duplicate KUB 34.21 are not omens concerning human body parts but observations of the sheep’s carcass and belong to the šumma immeru tradition (see there). The same is likely true for KBo 39.203, which deals with pierced bones or limbs that are not mentioned in Mesopotamian human physiognomy. KBo 13.31 was already correctly identified as a Hittite šumma izbu omen by Riemschneider K.K. 1970a: 60–67. On the other hand, the fragment KBo 53.104 was tentatively placed in CTH 533 by J. Miller, but it is more likely a terrestrial than a lunar omen. KUB 43.17 (once CTH 560) likely belongs to the same text as the three tablets KBo 34.129, KUB 29.9, and KUB 29.10. The Akkadian tablet KBo 34.67 contains šumma immeru omens on the obverse, but terrestrial omens on the reverse. KBo 13.28 is likely the fragment of a ritual description or instruction, as the preserved lexicon (LÚKÁ.GAL, GIŠKIRI₆, NINDA.G[UR₄.RA]) and paragraphs beginning with an-da-ma show, albeit two paragraphs start with ma-(a)-an UN-aš. Until its nature can be determined, it has been moved to CTH 832.

The fragments IBoT 2.132+ and KBo 34.143 deal with a man’s body parts, but as they could belong to the physiognomic section of KBo 34.129 and its duplicates, I refrained from moving them to CTH 543 until further evidence clarifies their nature.

This leaves us with two fragmentary Akkadian terrestrial omen sections: KBo 36.47 rev., 3′-10′, and KUB 4.53 rev. In Hittite, there are three, perhaps four tablets with omens about a man entering his house and omens about a man’s sleep (KBo 34.129, KUB 29.9; KUB 29.10; perhaps KUB 43.17), one of which also contains lunar eclipse omens (KUB 29.9), and two of which likely also contain physiognomy omens (KUB 29.9; 29.10). This section could also belong to IBoT 2.123+ and KBo 34.132. The Hittite fragment KBo 53.104 concerns doors and a courtyard or something entering said doors or courtyard. Three Hittite fragments list omens about animals entering a house (KUB 34.22+; KBo 34.136; KBo 34.131). Ominous animal behavior also plays a role in KBo 13.29, a Hittite tablet that lists the appropriate rituals for ominous occurrences.