Origin: A tablet made up of three joining pieces, BM 35115, BM 35789 and BM 45640, acquired by the British Museum in 1879 and 1881 [1].
First Published: 1955 by T G Pinches as LBAT 1415, 1416 and 1417 [2]
Also known as ADT V Lunar Text No.3.
Obv.
I'
1' [....] after sunrise?
2' [....] .... (Year) 1? of Bēl-ibni
3' [....] to between south
4' [....] it set eclipsed.
5' [At .... before sunri]se.
II'
1 [....] ....
2 [Month II?,] (after) 5 months ...., between
3 [nor]th and east it began; two-thirds of the disk
4 [was covered?. The we]st? wind blew.
5 [At] 1,40°
6 [after sun]set.
7 [Month VI] was intercalary.
8 [....1]4? .... which was omitted.
9 [At ....] after sunrise.
(break)
1' [....] ....
2' all? was covered. In 6°?
3' middle of Aries .... The south wind
4' blew. At 20° after sunset.
5' (Year) 5, [month I], the 15th, (eclipse) which was omitted.
6' At [x]+10° after sunrise.
III'
1 Accession year of Šamaš-šumu-ukīn.
2 month II, (after) 5 months;
3 (eclipse) which was omitted.
4 At 40° after sunrise.
5 Month VIII, (eclipse) which was omitted.
6 At 30° before sunset.
(break)
1' .... [....]
2' It set eclipsed. At 20°+[x]
3' before sunrise.
4' (Year) 2, month I, the 14th, ....
5' began?. At 3°? [....]
6' after sunset.
IV'
1 (Year) 18 of Šamaš-šumu-ukīn,
2 month II, (after) 5 months,
3 (eclipse) which was omitted.
4 At 1,0° before sunset.
5 Month VIII, the 13th, .... [....]
6 and south [....]
7 .... [....]
8 .... [....]
V'
1 (Year) 16 of Kandalānu,
2 month III, (after) 5 months, the 15th, 2 fin[gers?]
3 between north and east were covered.
4 It cleared in the north. The north wind b[lew?.]
5 20° onset, maximal phase, [and clearing ....]
6 behind α Scorpii [it was eclipsed.]
Rev.
I'
1' [....] which was omitted.
2' [At] 12°? before sunset.
3' [.... the 1]4th, moonrise to sunset: 1°;
4' [....] ....
5' [....] ....
6' [....] after sunset.
7' [....] .... it was eclipsed.
8' [....] .... 10?
9' [....] clouds?
10' [....] not seen
11' [....] seen
12' [.... be]fore sunrise.
13' [....] ....
II'
1' [....] omitted [....]
2' Month XII₂, the 14th,
3' it began on the south side.
4' one-fourth of the disk was covered.
5' It cleared to the west. 27°
6' onset, maximal phase. and clearing.
7' The "garment of the sky" was there. the south wind blew.
8' At 48° after sunset.
9' (Year) 8, month VI. the 14th, 1 ½
10' fingers? ....
11' At 1,20° before sunrise.
12' Month XII, the 14th, (eclipse) which was omitted.
13' At ⅓ bēru before sunset.
14' (Year) 9, month VI, the 13th,
15' [....] ....
III'
1' .... [....]
2' At 20° after sunrise.
3' (Year) 26, month I, the 12+[xth,]
4' it began on the east side; it set eclipsed.
5' 1 ⅔ cubits in front of β
6' Capricorni it was eclipsed. The north wind which was
7' set to the east side blew.
8' At 10°
9' before sunrise.
10' Month VII, the 13th. (eclipse) which was omitted.
11' At 12°? after sunrise.
12' Month XII₂, the 15th. when it began on the south side.
13' in 15° all was covered. 21°
14' maximal phase. When it began to clear from the east.
15' it cleared in 19° of night to the west.
16' 55°' onset, maximal phase. and clearing.
17' 14 fingers in front of α Librae
18' it was edipsed. (In) its eclipse. the w[est? wind]
19' which was slanted to tle south [blew.]
20' At 37° [after sunset.]
21' (Year) 2[7, ....]
IV'
1' [....] .... [....]
2' (Year) 45, month I, the 10+[xth, ....]
3' to sunrise .... [....]
4' from .... [....]
5' .... [....]
[3, p. 8]
Obv. Col III
II/Acc. Shamash-shum-ukin
1 Accession year of Šamaš-šumu-ukīn.
2 month II, (after) 5 months;
3 (eclipse) which was omitted.
4 At 40° after sunrise.
Obv. Col III
VIII/Acc. Shamash-shum-ukin
5 Month VIII, (eclipse) which was omitted.
6 At 30° before sunset.
Obv. Col III
14/I/2 Shamash-shum-ukin
4' (Year) 2, month I, the 14th, ....
5' began?. At 3°? [....]
6' after sunset.
Obv. Col IV
II/18 Shamash-shum-ukin
1 (Year) 18 of Šamaš-šumu-ukīn,
2 month II, (after) 5 months,
3 (eclipse) which was omitted.
4 At 1,0° before sunset.
Obv. Col IV
13/VIII/18 Shamash-shum-ukin
5 Month VIII, the 13th, .... [....]
6 and south [....]
7 .... [....]
8 .... [....]
Obv. Col V
15/III/16 Kandalanu
1 (Year) 16 of Kandalānu,
2 month III, (after) 5 months, the 15th, 2 fin[gers?]
3 between north and east were covered.
4 It cleared in the north. The north wind b[lew?.]
5 20° onset, maximal phase, [and clearing ....]
6 behind α Scorpii [it was eclipsed.]
According to H Hunger [3, p. 391] this tablet is part of a series that are:
arranged in columns such that each entry in a column is separated from the entry in the preceding column by one Saros of 18 years
We can therefore deduce the length of Shamash-shum-ukin’s reign as 20 years long (based on Col IV’. 1 and Col V’. 1).
When testing years in the range -720 to -617 the best match for Shamash-shum-ukin’s Accession year is -667.
Year Score
-667 5.580889466915484
-676 4.844272532887037
-630 4.737415156243697
-684 4.488813158433958
-619 4.4626805460473165
...
-686 3.9976971700992205
-687 2.3345920746075928
-688 0.0
| Calendar Date | Event | Matched UT | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1/I/Acc. Shamashshumukin | Calendar: First day of year | -667 March 19 | Equinox on March 28 |
| 1/II/Acc. Shamashshumukin | Calendar: Lunar Visibility | -667 April 17 | Earliest visibility April 17 |
| ?/II/Acc. Shamashshumukin | Predicted Eclipse, 40° after sunrise | -667 May 02 | Partial, 58.4° after sunrise |
| 1/VIII/Acc. Shamashshumukin | Calendar: Lunar Visibility | -667 Oct 13 | Earliest visibility Oct 13 |
| ?/VIII/Acc. Shamashshumukin | Predicted Eclipse, 30° before sunset | -667 Oct 25 | Partial, 42.0° before sunset |
| 1/I/2 Shamashshumukin | Calendar: First day of year | -665 March 28 | Equinox on March 28 |
| 1/I/2 Shamashshumukin | Calendar: Lunar Visibility | -665 March 28 | Earliest visibility March 28 |
| 14/I/2 Shamashshumukin | Lunar Eclipse, ? after sunset | -665 April 10 | Partial, 8.5° after sunset |
| 1/I/18 Shamashshumukin | Calendar: First day of year | -649 March 30 | Equinox on March 28 |
| 1/II/18 Shamashshumukin | Calendar: Lunar Visibility | -649 March 28 | Earliest visibility March 28 |
| ?/II/18 Shamashshumukin | Predicted Eclipse, 60° before sunset | -649 May 13 | Partial, 31.6° before sunset |
| 1/VIII/18 Shamashshumukin | Calendar: Lunar Visibility | -649 Oct 24 | Earliest visibility Oct 24 |
| 13/VIII/18 Shamashshumukin | Lunar Eclipse | -649 Nov 06 | Partial |
| 1/I/16 Kandalanu | Calendar: First day of year | -631 March 11 | Equinox on March 27 |
| 1/III/16 Kandalanu | Calendar: Lunar Visibility | -631 May 09 | Earliest visibility May 09 |
| 15/III/16 Kandalanu | Partial Eclipse, behind α Scorpii, 20° duration | -631 May 24 | Partial, 21.7° behind α Scorpii, 19.4° duration |
My results match those of H Hunger [3, p. 395], except for the eclipse in Oct -667 which Hunger has as the 23rd, I believe this is likely to be a typographical error since the only lunar eclipse in October was definitely on the 25th (see NASA’s eclipse catalog).
[1] “Joined Tablet Group: G15700,” The British Museum. [Online]. Available: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/group/G15700.
[2] T. G. Pinches, A. J. Sachs, and J. N. Strassmaier, Late Babylonian Astronomical and Related Texts: Copied by T.G. Pinches and J.N. Strassmaier. Brown University Press, 1955.
[3] H. Hunger, Astronomical diaries and related texts from Babylonia. Volume V, Lunar and Planetary Texts. Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2001.