Editorial

Mysterious Tablet Deciphered Speaks Of Dooms, Miserable Prophecies

BLOG
Ur Iii Cuneiform Tablet

(Photo by JHU Sheridan Libraries/Gado/Getty Images).

Kay Smythe News and Commentary Writer
Font Size:

A study published in the recent Journal of Cuneiform Studies deciphered four mysterious tablets, revealing prophecies of the eclipse and omens of death and destruction.

Professor Andrew George from the University of London and independent researcher Junko Taniguchi believe they’ve presented the first edition of full translations of the 4,000-year-old tablets discovered more than 100 years ago in Iraq, according to Live Science. Each of the tablets “represent the oldest examples of compendia of lunar-eclipse omens yet discovered” the researchers stated.

The ancient authors of the tablet apparently used the movement of shadows, the date, time of night and duration of eclipses to predict and prophesize omens.

One example includes that if “an eclipse becomes obscured from its center all at once [and] clear all at once: a king will die, destruction of Elam.” Elam was a part of ancient Mesopotamia in what is modern day Iran. The tablets are believed to be from the city of Sippar, now part of Iraq, and were written for the Babylonian Empire. (RELATED: Ancient Language May Finally Be Deciphered, Revealing Love, Destruction Of Forgotten World)

An eclipse in the evening signifies pestilence, according to these dudes. “The origins of some of the omens may have lain in actual experience — observation of portent followed by catastrophe,” George told the outlet.

“If the prediction associated with a given omen was threatening, for example, ‘a king will die,’ then an oracular enquiry by extispicy [inspecting the entrails of animals] was conducted to determine whether the king was in real danger,” the authors noted.

Apparently, certain rituals were said to annul the bad omen should the animal entrails suggest danger. (RELATED: Tablet Unearthed Revealing Long-Lost Language Of Our Ancestors)

Wow, I never thought a sentence could make me grateful to be born in this time period. But that last one really did it for me.