Position in chronology
SAA 04 054. Fragment Similar to No. 44 (AGS 013) [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (2) [Disregard what happens after my] stipulated term. (3) [Disregard th]at ......[...] (4) [Disregard that they] take [the road ...] behind [them]. (5) [Disregard that they inf]lict a defeat and [plunder] the countryside. (6) [Disregard that they may think about it, but turn] back [and go away]. (r 1) [Disregard the (formulation) of] today's [case], be it good, be it [faulty]. (r 2) [Disregard that an unclean person] has performed extispicy in this place, or [blocked] the way of [the sacrificial sheep]. (r 3) [Disregard that an] unclean man or woman has come near [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/P238991/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[x x x x x x] ⸢x x x⸣+[x x x x] / [e-zib šá ana EGIR] a-dan-[ni-ia] / [e-zib] ⸢šá x x x⸣-ri šá iʾ-i-ri [x x] / [e-zib šá x x x i]-ṣab-ba-tu a-na EGIR-⸢šú⸣-[nu x x] / [e-zib šá a-na de]-⸢ek⸣-tú a-na ḫu-bu-ut EDIN ⸢GAZ⸣-[ku-ma i-ḫab-ba-tu] / [e-zib šá x x x x] a-na EGIR-šú-un [GUR-MEŠ-ma BAR-MEŠ] / [e-zib šá di-in UD]-mi an-ni-i GIM DÙG.GA GIM [ḫa-ṭu-ú] / [e-zib šá KUG lu-ʾu-ú] UDU SISKUR.SISKUR…
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 P238991.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P238991). 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/P238991/.
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