Position in chronology
SAA 04 044. Will Kaštaritu Conquer Karibtu? (PRT 001) [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) Šamaš, great lord, [give me a firm positive answer to what I am] ask[ing you]! (2) Should Esarhaddon, k[ing of Assyria], stri[ve and plan, and add to] the troops in the city [Ka]ribtu, which is [located on the border of ...], so that they can keep watch against the enemy? (4) From this [day, the ...th day of this month, the month Iyyar (II), to the ...th day] of the month Sivan (III) of this year, for 40 days and nights, [the term stipulated for the performance of (this) extispicy — within this stipulated term], (6) will Kaštaritu with his troops, or the troop[s of the Cimmerians, or the…
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/P237711/
Why it matters
Transliteration
dUTU EN GAL-⸢ú⸣ [šá a]-šal-[lu-ka an-na GI.NA a-pal-an-ni] / mdaš-šur—ŠEŠ—SUM-na ⸢LUGAL⸣ [KUR—aš-šur].KI li-iṣ-[rim li-ik-pid-ma] / a-na UGU ERIM-MEŠ šá i-na ⸢URU⸣.[ka]-rib-ti šá i-na [ta-ḫu-mi šá KUR.x x x šak-nu lu-ra-ad-di-ma] / EN.NUN i-na IGI LÚ.KÚR li-[iṣ]-ṣur-ru TA UD NE-[i UD x-KÁM šá ITI NE-i ITI.GUD EN UD x-KÁM šá] / ITI.SIG₄ šá MU.AN.NA NE-ti a-na 40 UD-MEŠ 40 MI-MEŠ [ši-kin a-dan-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 P237711.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P237711). 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/P237711/.
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