Position in chronology
SAA 04 038. Will Scythians and Cimmerians Invade Bit-Hamban and Yašuh? [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (r 2) [whether they will make a hostile incursion to the ...] of Bit-Ha[mban ......], g[o to the city] Yašuh, and ki[ll what there is to kill ......]. (r 4) [Be present] in [this] ram, [place (in it) a firm positive answer ......] (Rest destroyed)
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/P239367/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[x x x x] du ⸢x⸣+[x x x x x x x x x x x x] / [x x]+⸢x⸣ šá É—URU.ḫa-[am-ban x x x x x x x x] / [URU?].ia-šu-uḫ il-[la-ku-nim-ma šá GAZ GAZ-MEŠ x x x x] / [o?] ⸢i⸣-na ŠÀ-bi UDU.⸢NÍTA⸣ [an-ni-i GUB-za-am-ma an-na GI.NA]
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 P239367.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P239367). 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/P239367/.
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