Position in chronology
SAA 04 025. Esarhaddon Sending his Messenger to NN (AGS 026) [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) [Šamaš, great lord], giv[e me a fi]rm [positive answer to what I am asking you]! (2) [Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, who is now inten]t [on sending] words of [his own choo]sing [in the hand of his messenger to NN, king of the ...e]ans, (Break) (r 1) [... of] this [month], the month [...]. (r 2) [May (this query) g]o [to your great divinity, O Šamaš, great lord], and may an oracle be [given as an answer].
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/P238995/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[dUTU 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 i-na-an-na] dib-ba šá ŠÀ-⸢ba⸣-[šú ub-lam] / [ina ŠU.2 LÚ.A—KIN-šú a-na mx x x x KUR.x x-a].a ana KIN-šú-ma ⸢ti⸣-[iṣ-mu-ru-ma] / [x x x x x x x x x x x x ITI] NE-im ITI.[x x x] / [UGU DINGIR-ti-ka GAL-ti dUTU EN GAL-ú DU]-ik-ma UR₅.ÚŠ ⸢li⸣-[tap-pal]
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 P238995.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P238995). 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/P238995/.
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