Position in chronology
SAA 04 043. Will Kaštaritu Conquer Kišassu? (AGS 001) [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) Šamaš, great lord, give me a firm positive answer to what I am asking you! (2) From this day, the 3rd day of this month, the month Iyyar (II), to the 11th day of the month Ab (V) of this year, for these 100 days and nights, the term stipulated for the performance of (this) extispicy — within this stipulated term, (4) will Kaštaritu with his troops, or the troops of the Cimmerians, or the troops of the Medes, or the troops of the Manneans, or any other enemy, strive and plan? (6) Will they, be it by means of pressure, or by force, or by waging war, or [by means of a tun]nel or breach, or…
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/P238327/
Why it matters
Transliteration
dUTU EN GAL-ú šá a-⸢šal⸣-lu-ka an-nam GI.NA a-pal-an-ni / TA UD NE-⸢i⸣ UD 03-KÁM šá ITI an-ni-i ITI.GUD.SI.SÁ EN UD 11-KÁM šá ITI.NE šá MU NE-⸢tim⸣ / a-na 01-me UD-[MEŠ] 01-me MI-MEŠ NE-MEŠ ši-kin RI DÙ-eš-ti LÚ.ḪAL-ti i-na ši-kin RI UR₅-tú / lu-ú mka-⸢áš⸣-ta-ri-ti a-di ERIM-MEŠ-šú lu-ú ERIM-MEŠ LÚ.gi-mir-ra-a.a / lu-ú ERIM-MEŠ LÚ.ma-da-a.a lu-ú ERIM-MEŠ LÚ.man-na-a.a lu-ú LÚ.KÚR mál GÁL-MEŠ-ú /…
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 P238327.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P238327). 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/P238327/.
Related tablets
Related sources
The single most important literary discovery of the 19th century. It rewired the understanding of the Bible's literary context and proved that the Mesopotamian flood tradition is older. It is the oldest surviving epic poetry in human history.
The literary tradition is no longer anonymous from this point. Authorship — the idea that a specific human voice composes a specific work — enters the historical record with her.
The single most influential Mesopotamian king list — the model for every later attempt to chronicle the deep history of the region. It transmits the political theology of divinely granted kingship, an idea that would echo through Babylon, Assyria, and into the Hebrew Bible. The Weld-Blundell prism (WB 444) at the Ashmolean is the most complete surviving copy.