Position in chronology
SAA 04 018. Will Ursaya of Urartu Invade Šubria? (AGS 048) [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) [Šamaš, great lord], give me a fi[rm positive an]swer [to what I am asking you]! (2) [From this day, the ...th day of this month] Nisan (I), to the 1st day of Tammuz (IV) of this year, [for ... days and nights, the stipulated ter]m for the performance of (this) extispicy — within this stipulated term, (4) [will Ursâ, king of Ur]arṭ[u], whom they call Yaya, [...] whom they call king of Pa[...], strive and plan? (6) Will he, [whether ...] or on the advice [of his counsellor]s, together with his army, (7) [or with the] Cimmerians or any of his a[ll]ies, [take] the road from where they are to…
Source: 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/P336054/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[dUTU EN GAL-ú šá a-šal-lu-ka an]-na ⸢GI⸣.[NA] a-pal-an-ni / [TA UD-mu an-ni-i UD x-KAM šá ITI an-ni-e ITI].BARAG a-di UD 01-⸢KÁM šá ITI⸣.ŠU šá MU.AN.NA an-ni-ti / [a-na x UD-MEŠ x MI-MEŠ ši-kin a-dan]-⸢ni⸣ a-na DÙ-eš-ti ba-ru-ti i-na ši-kin a-dan-ni UR₅-tú / [mur-sa-a LUGAL šá KUR.ur]-⸢ár*-ṭu* šá*⸣ mia-a.a i-qa-bu-niš-šú-un-ni / [x x x x x] LUGAL šá KUR.pa*-[x x x] i-qa-bu-niš-šú-un-ni…
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 P336054.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336054). 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/P336054/.
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