Samizdat

“No. 85.

When the Moon disappears, evil will befall the land.

When the Moon disappears out of its reckoning, an eclipse will take place. (The Moon disappeared on the twenty-fourth day.)

When a halo surrounds the Sun on the day of the Moon’s disappearance, an eclipse of the left side of the Moon will take place.

In Kislew a watch was kept for the eclipse, the halo surrounding the Sun and the disappearance of the Moon (being the causes of the watch for an eclipse in Kislew) having been observed.

May the king, my lord, know, and may he rest happy.

From Irassi-ilu, the king’s servant (the greater).”

Reginald Campbell Thompson, The Reports of the Magicians and Astrologers of Nineveh and Babylon, Vol. II, London, 1900. p. xlviii.