SAA 04 108. Should Esarhaddon Send an Army to a Destination? (PRT 026) [military and political]

~675 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·P238978

Translation — scholar edition

SAA 4

High confidence

(1) [Šam]aš, great lord, [give me a firm positive answer] to what I am asking y[ou]! (2) [Es]arhaddon, king of Assyria, who now is intent on send[ing to the destin]ation of his preference [the troops and armed forces wh]ich are written in this papyrus, and [placed before your great divinity, and (whom) your great divinity knows] — (5) [in accor]dance with the command of your great divinity, Šam[aš], great lord, and your [favor]able decisions, should the subject of this query, [Esarhaddon, king of Assyria], strive and plan? [Should he send] these troops and armed forces to where he wishes? Is…

State Archives of Assyria, volume 4 — scholar edition (ORACC).

Transliteration

[d]⸢UTU⸣ EN GAL-ú šá a-šal-lu-⸢ka⸣ [an-na GI.NA a-pal-an-ni] / [mAN].ŠÁR—ŠEŠ—SUM-na LUGAL KUR—AN.ŠÁR šá ⸢TA⸣-an-⸢ni⸣ [ERIM-MEŠ Á.KAL-MEŠ] / [šá] i-na Ú.ur-ba-an-ni an-ni-⸢i⸣ šaṭ-ru-ma ⸢ina⸣ [IGI DINGIR-ti-ka GAL-ti šak-nu] / ⸢KI⸣ ŠÀ-ba-šú ub-lam a-na ⸢KIN-šú⸣-ma ti-iṣ-⸢mu⸣-[ru-ma DINGIR-ut-ka GAL-ti ZU-ú] / ⸢GIM⸣ KA DINGIR-ti-ka GAL-ti d⸢UTU⸣ EN GAL-ú EŠ.BAR-ka [šal]-mu EN—MU.⸢MU NE-i⸣…

Scholarly note

Extispicy query addressed to Šamaš, the sungod and patron of divination, edited by Ivan Starr (SAA 4, 1990). The king asks the deity to render a yes/no verdict on a political or military question. ORACC text P238978.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P238978). source
Translation excerpted from Starr, I. 1990. Queries to the Sungod: Divination and Politics in Sargonid Assyria. SAA 4. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/saao/saa04/P238978/.

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