KUB 8.27+ is an oracle summary (CTH 569) with lunar eclipse omens written in the left margin of the tablet.

• G.F. del Monte, AION 33, 1973: 377-385
• K.K. Riemschneider, DBH 12, 2004: 93f.
• Th. van den Hout, DMOA 25, 1998: 13 (oracle summary); 194ff.

The tablet was first published by E. Weidner in KUB 8. The omens were edited by Riemschneider K.K. 2004a: 93–94. Both the ritual passages and the omens were again edited in van den Hout’s work on the oracle inquiries of Tudḫaliya IV (Hout Th.P.J. van den 1998c).

A: A tall, roughly triangular, almost shark-fin-shaped fragment (KUB 8.27) from the lower left corner of a tablet, including parts of the left and a bit of the lower edge, is joined by a small piece on the reverse (Bo 7787). It contains 41 lines of relatively dense cuneiform script, although only a few signs are preserved in the lines on the obverse. Some paragraphs were left blank. Two short columns were drawn on the edge, separating the omens from the rest of the text.

A: New Script: New LI, DA without a central horizontal.

A few forms and words are not attested elsewhere in the Hittite omens. The word for flood has many different spellings, but the short ka-ri-iz (l. col., 3) is only found in KUB 8.27+. The logograms DGAŠAN, ⸢NÍG⸣.ÚR.LÍMMU! and the spelling ŠUB-TI with Akkadian phonetic complement are also only found in these omens.

The oracle inquiry preserved on the obverse and reverse was conducted on behalf of King Tudḫaliya IV concerning Arma-Tarḫunta and Šausgatti, dating the tablet to the late 13th century BC. Other omen tablets that can be prosopographically dated to his reign or that of his predecessor through their colophons are KBo 13.27+, KBo 42.1+, KUB 4.1, KUB 8.9+, KUB 29.9, KUB 29.11+, KUB 37.164, and KUB 37.210.

Kammenhuber A. 1976c: 84 called KUB 8,27+ ‘definitely a compilation tablet’. This is the only example of an omen text being added in the margins of a Hittite tablet, although combinations of rituals with omen passages are known (e. g., KUB 4.1; KUB 8.30). Her assessment is correct insofar as it contains oracle summaries, not actual oracle protocols, and a few lunar eclipse omens. Thus, it compiles different text genres on the same tablet.

The genres’ relation to each other is not clear, however. KUB 8.27 is a manuscript of the fifth tablet of the oracle summary, which is the last tablet preserved, but according to the colophons of other witnesses, not the final tablet of the composition (Hout Th.P.J. van den 1998c: 73–91). None of the other tablets contains omen passages. The ‘compilation’, therefore, seems to be an idiosyncratic decision by a scribe rather than a compositional feature. Th.P.J. van den 1998c: 167–168 speculates that this may represent a rare example of the practical use of Mesopotamian omens: matters to be explored through divination were to be approached from every available angle. Van den Hout is certainly right that there is a connection between the Moon God and Ištar in the omens, and Arma-Tarḫunta (m.DZUEN-D10) and Šauškatti (f.DIŠTAR-ti/f.DGAŠAN-ti) in the oracles. However, the absence of astrological practices from the entire oracle procedure (Th.P.J. van den 1998c: 175–217), as well as the notation in the margin – despite the available space on the reverse – does not necessarily argue for practical application. The association appears to be purely onomastic, and what link the scribe saw beyond that is impossible to tell.

Besides their peculiar placement, the omens are fairly normal lunar eclipse omens. The protases of the left column are lost, but the apodoses are typical of the genre: For ḫé]-⸢e-uš? ki⸣-i-ša-an-ta [nu BUR]U₁₄? ut-ne-e ma-a-i cf. KBo 13.15 rev. III, 8–9 and KUB 8.47 rev. III?, 13′–14′ (CTH 532.3). karizza utne pedai is found in KUB 8.3 obv. 8′ (CTH 532.8), which is a translation of the very common Akkadian apodosis mīlu/biblu māta ubbal. For the second omen in the right column cf. KUB 8.3 rev. 1′–2′ and KUB 34.9 1′–6′, which are very similar. The apodoses concern the welfare of the land and its inhabitants, including the livestock.