The Corpus of Hittite Divinatory Texts (HDivT)

Digital Edition and Cultural Historical Analysis

Mathis Kreitzscheck (Hrsg.)

Citatio: Mathis Kreitzscheck (Hrsg.), hethiter.net/: CTH 532.8 (TRde 2025-09-03)


CTH 532.8

Hittite lunar eclipse omens (forerunner to EAE 22) and lunar omens

translatio



Abschnitt 1ID=8.1: First month

one omen is lost, 2-3 lines

1ID=1 --

[]

2ID=2 --

[]

3ID=3 --

And the chil[d …]

4ID=4 --

[]

5ID=5 --

[] … will st[and].

6ID=6 --

[]

7ID=7 --

[… a]nd a [s]ign occurs:

8ID=8 --

[]

9ID=9 --

[… pa]sses1

10ID=10 --

and a sign occurs:

11ID=11 --

[A king] will be hostile towards [another kin]g.

12ID=12 --

The king will die.

Abschnitt 2ID=8.2: Second month

13ID=13 --

[In the 2]nd [month] day fourteen passes

14ID=14 --

and a sign occurs:

15ID=15 --

[] … will happen.

16ID=16 --

[I]n the same month day fifteen passes

17ID=17 --

[and] a sig[n] occurs:

18ID=18 --

[A kin]g will be hostile towards another king.

19ID=19 --

The king will die.

20ID=20 --

[In] the same [mon]th day sixteen passes

21ID=21 --

and a sig[n occurs]:

22ID=22 --

[The king of Amurr]u will die.

23ID=23 --

His land will peris[h].

24ID=24 --

[In the same month] day twenty passes

25ID=25 --

and a si[gn occurs]:

26ID=26 --

The [sea will overflow]2

27ID=27 --

and (its) produce will peri[sh].

28ID=28 --

[In the 3rd month day fourteen pa]sse[s]3

29ID=29 --

[and a si]g[n occurs]:

one omen is lost, 2-3 lines

Abschnitt 3ID=8.3: Third month

30ID=30 --

[]

31ID=31 --

In the sam[e] month [day sixteen passes]

32ID=32 --

[and a sign occurs]

33ID=33 --

The king [] through a weapon.4

34ID=34 --

In the sam[e] month [day twenty passes]

35ID=35 --

[and a sign occurs]:

36ID=36 --

The king will [] his son i[n …].5

37ID=37 --

In the same month day twenty-one passes

38ID=38 --

[and a sign occurs]:

Abschnitt 4ID=8.4: Fourth month

39ID=39 --

The rains by the word of [].

40ID=40 --

In the fourth month day fourteen passes

41ID=41 --

and a si[gn occurs]:

42ID=42 --

[]

43ID=43 --

and the sea will overflow

44ID=44 --

o[r …]

45ID=45 --

or a great country will [go] to a small country to su[stain itself].6

46ID=46 --

[In] the same [m]onth day fifteen passes

47ID=47 --

and a si[gn occurs]:

48ID=48 --

[The flo]od will dr[y up] in its very place.

49ID=49 --

[In] the same [m]onth day sixteen passes

50ID=50 --

and a sign occurs:

51ID=51 --

There will be [f]amine [].

52ID=52 --

[In the s]ame [month] day twenty passes

53ID=53 --

and a sign occurs:

54ID=54 --

[] will rebel.

55ID=55 --

[In the same month d]ay twenty-one passes

56ID=56 --

[an]d a sign [occurs]:

57ID=57 --

The produce of the [se]a will peris[h …].

the omens for months 5-7 are lost

Abschnitt 5ID=8.5: Eight month?

58ID=58 --

[In the sam]e [month] day sixteen [passes]

59ID=59 --

[(and) a sign occurs]:

60ID=60 --

[] will happen.

61ID=61 --

[In the s]ame [month] day twenty passes

62ID=62 --

[(and) a sign occurs]:

63ID=63 --

[] … will fal[l].

Abschnitt 6ID=8.6: Ninth month?

64ID=64 --

[In the s]ame [month] day twenty-one passes

65ID=65 --

(and) a sign occurs:

66ID=66 --

The [] will desert from the king.

67ID=67 --

[In the 9]th [month] day fourteen passes

68ID=68 --

(and) a sign occurs:

69ID=69 --

A [… flo]od will carry away the land.

70ID=70 --

[In the] same [month] day fifteen passes

71ID=71 --

a sign occurs:

72ID=72 --

[] will strike the [p]lace.7

73ID=73 --

[In] the same [mont]h day sixteen passes

74ID=74 --

(and) a sign occurs:

75ID=75 --

There will be famine [].

76ID=76 --

And it will dry up.8

77ID=77 --

[In the same month] day twenty passes

78ID=78 --

(and) a sign occurs:

79ID=79 --

The land’s [] will flourish.

the omens from month 8, day 21 to month 12 or 13, day 21 are lost

Abschnitt 7ID=8.7: Eclipses during the vigils of the night

80ID=80 --

In the [… wat]ch of the night (there is) an eclipse:9

81ID=81 --

There will be an epidemic.

82ID=82 --

[] in the [… wat]ch of night (there is) an eclipse:

83ID=83 --

The cattle will fal[l].

84ID=84 --

[] in the [mid]dle watch of the night (there is) an eclipse:

85ID=85 --

[] will happen.

86ID=86 --

[] in the [… w]atch of the night (there is) an eclipse:

87ID=87 --

Someone will rebel against the ruler.

88ID=88 --

In the [… w]atch of the night (there is) an eclipse

89ID=89 --

and it ends in it:

90ID=90 --

[… will be a]ngry.

91ID=91 --

[] in the [… wa]tch of the night (there is) an eclipse:

92ID=92 --

[] of the king will die.

93ID=93 --

His land will be subjugated.

94ID=94 --

[] an eclipse of the [fir]st/[la]st watch of the night []

95ID=95 --

[… t]he libations will be cut off.

96ID=96 --

[] in the [… wat]ch of the night (there) is an eclipse:

97ID=97 --

[… wi]ll turn []

gap of unknown length, but likely only a couple of omens are lost

98ID=98 --

If fr[om]

99ID=99 --

[] co[mes …]:

100ID=100 --

[]

101ID=101 --

If the n[ig]th is half [over]

102ID=102 --

[and the moon] co[me]s [up]

Abschnitt 8ID=8.8: Appearence and movement of the moon during the vigils

103ID=103 --

and it is aiwa[nt-]:10

104ID=104 --

[]

105ID=105 --

If the mo[on comes up] at da[w]n:

106ID=106 --

and it is aiwant-:

107ID=107 --

The ruler will [] … .

108ID=108 --

If the moon go[es as]tray to the right

109ID=109 --

There will b[e] flooding.

110ID=110 --

If the moon is dark on the inside

111ID=111 --

but bright on the outside:

112ID=112 --

The king of Elam will die.

113ID=113 --

If (B: omits) the moon is aiwant-

114ID=114 --

and the south wind11 rises opposite it

115ID=115 --

and it (the moon) becomes bright:

116ID=116 --

Al[so]:12 the land of Elam (E: the land of Du[r-…)13 will fall.

117ID=117 --

[The moo]n’s [horn] becomes grown (E: If the moon shi[nes …])

118ID=118 --

and the west wind14 rises

119ID=119 --

and it (the moon) becomes bright:

120ID=120 --

The land of Amurru will perish.

121ID=121 --

The moon’s [ho]rn becomes grown (E: If at night [])

122ID=122 --

and ‘the peg’15 [ri]ses oppos[ite] it

123ID=123 --

and it becomes br[i]ght:

124ID=124 --

The land of Akkad will fall.

125ID=125 --

If (B: omits) the moon is big

126ID=126 --

(E: And) A high land will perish [i]n wa[ter].

127ID=127 --

If (B: omits) [the moon] moves

128ID=128 --

and a/the stone rises:16

129ID=129 --

[]

130ID=130 --

[] in your main17 land [].

131ID=131 --

But it [] back []:

132ID=132 --

[The moon] moves

133ID=133 --

and a/the stone []

134ID=134 --

[] … will perish.

gap of unknown length; perhaps no omen is missing, A and B may overlap here.

Abschnitt 9ID=8.9: Movement of the moon

135ID=135 --

[]

136ID=136 --

[]

137ID=137 --

and a/the [st]one [rises] up:

138ID=138 --

The [] will [k]ill [].

139ID=139 --

[If the moon mo]ves

140ID=140 --

but then [turns] back:

141ID=141 --

[The king] will [f]all in his [land].

142ID=142 --

His house will peris[h].

143ID=143 --

The [] … rises

144ID=144 --

and goes two cubits

145ID=145 --

(and) []

146ID=146 --

but then turns back (D: []…-zi)18

147ID=147 --

and then leans (to the side?):

148ID=148 --

The land will perish.

Abschnitt 10ID=8.10: Fragmentary terrestrial omens?

149ID=149 --

[]

50ID=50 --

and a sign occurs:

151ID=151 --

and … []:

152ID=152 --

For [].

Abschnitt 11ID=8.11: Colophon Ex. E

153ID=Col8E1 --

Ḫiliya wrote this under the supervision of Walwaziti, chief of the scribes, [].

Abschnitt 12ID=8.11: Unplaced traces

154ID=153 --

[]

Because of the Mesopotamian parallels, we expect this to be the omen for month one, day 20, so perhaps day 21 was missing or the counting differed.
Cf. for the restoration KBo 8.47 obv., 5′ (day 20), MDP 18.258 obv., 9′ (likely day 20 or 21), and the first-millennium version (day 21). Month two is missing days in most older versions of this text (KBo 8.47, AlT 452, Emar 6.652, and the Old Babylonian witnesses), and this apodosis seems to have shifted between day 20 and 21.
The positioning of the sign traces in the line makes it likely that a number sign instead of the longer ŠA-A-DU was used, which happens at the beginning of a new month.
This was likely an omen about the king falling in battle and not about the king’s weapon as shown by the Akkadian parallels in Old Babylonian (BM 86381 obv. II, 28), in the Emar text (Emar 6 652 obv., 14), and the first-millennium tablets of EAE 22.
Or: ‘The king: His son will []’, cf. the first millennium version’s šarru māršu ibâršu, ‘The king: His son will revolt against him’.
This reconstruction of the formula is warranted by KBo 34.110+ obv., 11′ and KBo 71.51, 4, confirming the proposal of Riemschneider K.K. 2004a: 167. The underlying Akkadian is ana butalluṭi illak.
If the proposal by Riemschneider K.K. 2004a: 73 is correct and this fragment treats months eight and nine, then walk- it is likely a translation of inaqqar (BM 86381 rev. III, 56) or innaqqar (first millennium EAE 22). This in turn concurs with earlier proposals by Oettinger N. 1979a: 234, cf. HEG IV/U-Z, 266-267.
Riemschneider K.K. 2004a: 72 follows Weidner’s copy in KUB 8.3 and reads NA₄KIŠIB ḫa-a-ti. The photographs of HPM rather show na-at ḫa-a-ti (na-at perhaps written over an erasure), which is, however, of little help. It is unclear what is supposed to dry up and why this follows the apodosis about famine.
The text KUB 8.3 is the only witness for the word ašpuzza. From similar texts such as KUB 4.64+, it is likely that its meaning is ‘darkening, eclipse’ (cf. also Riemschneider K.K. 2004a: 197).
aiwant- is an adjective so far exclusively modifying the moon and marks on the liver (KBo 10.7+ rev. III, 30.IV, 1). I assume it describes either a shade of red, since this color is (with one possible exception) otherwise absent from the Hittite omens, or something like ‘pale, faint, dark’, as in this omen it is first aiwant- and then becomes bright (pace Maier M.G. 2013a: 14; Soysal O. 2004h: 104-105, who prefer the translation ‘alone’ (Maier), and ‘equal one’ (Soysal)). For details see the commentary and introduction to KBo 10.7+.
That GAL IM is a Hittite logogram for the south wind is evident from the bilingual KUB 29.11+ obv. II, 14 and the Gilgameš passage KBo 6.1 rev. IV, 13ʹ–14ʹ. See Kreitzscheck M. 2023a*: 124-128 for details.
The conjunctions =ma, nu=kan, and Ù are difficult to explain here. =ma in B was perhaps used because the apodosis is identical to the preceding one, but in the other witnesses, it looks more like there may have been another apodosis before, which is, however, difficult to fit into the gaps unless parts of the protasis were missing in E and F.
Perhaps du[r-mi-it-ta-aš? See the similar localization in KUB 8.35 (Ḫatti for Akkad).
The association with Amurru is one sign that the ‘rear’ wind is the west wind in Hittite thought. For details see Kreitzscheck M. 2023a*: 129-135.
The word for ‘north’, which would fit here because we have Akkad in the apodosis, is similar to tarmaš: IM tarašmena/i- (cf. KUB 29.11 obv. II, 16). But unless this is a mistake, this may be a star constellation. In Akkadian, Sirius is called the ‘arrow’ (šiltāḫu), which would be similar.
The spacing on the tablet implies that a-ra-i is a separate word (pace Polvani A.M. 1988d: 11-12: NA₄aš-ša-a-ra-ia). The conjunction on NA₄-ašš=a shows that this is part of the protasis. This could be a translation of ŠÈG NA₄DU or abnu izannun or an equivalent, ‘Rain of stones (=hail) will come’. But it may also refer to a star constellation called ‘the stone’, for which no parallel exists, however.
For the same use of ḫaršar cf. KBo 3.4+ obv. I, 32-33.
The sign traces clearly do not show ú-eḫ-zi. There is one attestation for wa-aḫ-ḫu-zi in Kikkuli’s horse training manual (KBo 3.5 rev. III, 4), but that does not seem to fit either, unless AḪ was written in its late version with verticals.
Editio ultima: Traductionis 2025-09-03