CTH 532.8 is a collection of lunar eclipse omens in Hittite that can be considered a forerunner to tablet 22 of the canonical series Enūma Anu Enlil, like CTH 532.3, as has already be shown by Weidner E.F. 1923b: 5-8. Only four fragmentary manuscripts survive, all in New Script.

The tablets were copied by H.H. Figulla (KBo 2), H. Otten und C. Rüster (KBo 43), E. Weidner (KUB 8), K.K. Riemschneider (KUB 43) and H. Kızılyay and M. Çıǧ (IBoT 3). Partial editions are offered by Weidner E.F. 1923b: 5 (B obv.); Polvani A.M. 1988d: 11-12 (B, rev. 1′-15′) and Riemschneider K.K. 2004a: 69-74 (C-B).170-173(A).

There are some attempts at solving the puzzling Hittite verb form ašpuzza in B (Tischler J. 1999a: 699-700), but besides that, little research has been done on the tablets. Weidner E.F. 1923b: 5-8 produced a comparison with first-millennium witnesses.

A: New Script/IIIb: DA has lost its central broken horizontal. Obv. 12′ has old AG.

B: New Script/IIIa: ID and DA still have a central broken horizontal. We find new ḪAR but old AG.

C: New Script/IIIb: DA has lost its central broken horizontal. The text makes consequent use of late AG and LI.

D: New Script/IIIa: Exemplar D is only a fragment of about 20 signs. Note TA with very high verticals cutting the upper horizontal, GI still with an angular wedge instead of a Winkelhaken, and the use of SAR with stepped verticals (HZL 535/4).

The text uses the phrase šiwaz paizzi šagaišš=a kiša, ‘the day goes off and a sign happens’ to describe the eclipse. This phrase seems to have no direct Mesopotamian equivalent (Koch-Westenholz U. 1993a: 233-234 n. 14). It could, in theory, be an attempt to translate protases like GE₆ AN.TA.LÙ GAR-in from Emar, that appear pleonastic: ‘darkness; an eclipse happens’. Also, the tablets contain additional moon omens. Exemplars A and B apparently contain omens concerning the horns of the moon, while C has eclipse omens during the watches of the night, which are duplicated in D, which itself has no surviving text of the later EAE 22.

As already observed by Riemschneider K.K. 2004a, the Hittite phrase ḫa-a]-li-aš aš-pu-uz-za nu-uš-ši zi-né-zi is likely a translation of (antallû) ina maṣṣarti n iššakkan maṣṣarassu igmur or a similar phrase as found in KUB 4.64+ (CTH 532.12). Not enough is preserved of either text to establish a connection, however. KUB 4.64+ is an early witness to section two of EAE 19 (Rochberg-Halton F. 1988a: 168), and CTH 532.8C has protases that fit EAE 19 very well. Note, however, that ḫa-a-l]i aš-⸢pu-uz-za⸣ ÚŠ-kán ki-i-š[a] in rev. 1′ fits the first omen of the Old Babylonian tablets BM 86381, BM 22696, and BM 109154, as well as the first omen in AlT 452 and the second entry of the fragment KUB 34.9 (CTH 532.12).

So far untranslatable is pár-ki-i in KBo 2.19+ rev. 11′.

Only months three and four are attested in B. The months in A and C are lost, only ITU ŠA-A-DU (‘the same month’) remains. However, the beginning of tablet A is preserved and a comparison of the apodoses of those with the Old Babylonian tablets of EAE 22 (BM 16775, BM 22696, BM 86381, and BM 109154) and the tablet CUSAS 18.14 and 15, Emar 6.652, and first-millennium witnesses of EAE 22 (Rochberg-Halton F. 1988a: 251-272,) shows that A records omens for months one and two. Here, CTH 532.8 seems to parallel CTH 532.3 in giving the omens for month two day 21 in month two day 20 and apparently leaving out the 20th/21st day altogether: the sign traces of the line following month two day 20 are positioned similarly to month two, day fourteen, which means that this was more likely the beginning of a new section than another entry of the same month. It thus parallels the omission of month two, day 20 in Emar 6.652 and the Alalakh tablet AlT 452. Exemplar C is likely giving omens for months eight and nine, as already observed by Riemschneider K.K. 2004a: 73. If the placements are correct, CTH 532.11 more closely resembles the first-millennium version rather than the Old Babylonian or Emar texts. This also means that in the few instances in which both CTH 532.3 and CTH 532.8 are preserved, the Hittite versions can differ from each other: In month nine, day fourteen CTH 532.3 is close to Old Babylonian BM 86381, whereas this text’s apodosis is only found in the first-millennium version. In month nine, day 16, what remains of the apodosis is not paralleled by any surviving witness.

The omens following the monthly sections in the different exemplars are also difficult to place. A and D preserve remnants of omens that seem to derive from the movement and position of a heavenly body. The constellation of stars and planets relative to the moon is mainly dealt with in EAE 6 and 12 (Verderame L. 2002a), but too little is preserved in A and D to establish a certain connection.

Exemplar C has not only the monthly sections but also eclipses during the different watches of the night. The text could in theory be a version of the introductory sections before the monthly sections found in those texts. Enough of the tablet is preserved, however, to determine obverse and reverse by the tablet shape. Also, collections of eclipses during the night watches are also found in EAE 18 and iqqur īppuš §70-74.

Exemplar B has moon omens on the reverse, possibly relating to the horns of the moon. Unfortunately, they do not parallel any moon horn omens from CTH 533, and neither can a clear connection to the moon omens in CTH 533.2, Emar 6.651, or the first-millennium tablets EAE 1-13 be established.

In light of the surviving text, it seems that the four tablets only share the monthly sections for certain and were not necessarily duplicates, but were possibly either astrological Sammeltafeln or different versions of text that would become the monthly section of EAE 22.

The text follows the same pattern of days found in CTH 532.3 (eclipse on days fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, 20, 21), but it lacks the entry for days 21-30 of the month and is thus closer to the first-millennium version. It is therefore probable that two versions made their way to Ḫattuša and were translated more or less independently, since the terminology differs strongly between CTH 532.3 and CTH 532.11.

The apodoses mostly concern foreign politics, the harvest, and catastrophes such as famine and pestilence. The non-monthly sections are badly preserved and yield little in terms of presages, but instead contain a number of difficult words and descriptions of lunar phenomena.