Position in chronology
SAA 04 055. Fragment Similar to No. 44 (AGS 014) [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (2) [Disregard that they inflict a defeat] and plunder the countryside. (r 1) [Disregard the (formulation) of] today's [case], be it good, [be it faulty]. (r 2) [Disregard that an unclean man or] woman [has come near] the place of the ex[tispicy and made it unclean]. (r 3) [Disregard that the ram (offered) to] your [divinity] for the performance of [the extispicy is deficient or faulty]. (r 4) [Disregard that he who touches the forehead of the sheep is dressed in his] or[dinary soiled] garm[ents ......] (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/P239005/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[x x x x x x x x x x x]+⸢x x⸣+[x x] / [e-zib šá de-ek-tu GAZ-ku] ḫu-bu-⸢ut⸣ [EDIN i-ḫab-ba-tu] / [e-zib šá di-in UD-mu an]-⸢ni⸣-i GIM DÙG-ab [GIM ḫa-ṭu-ú] / [e-zib šá lu-ʾu-ú lu]-ʾu-ú-ti KI ⸢MÁŠ⸣ [DIB.DIB-ma ú-le-ʾu-ú] / [e-zib šá UDU.NÍTA DINGIR-ti]-ka šá a-na MÁŠ [MÁŠ-ú LAL-ú ḫa-ṭu-ú] / [e-zib šá TAG-it SAG.KI UDU.NÍTA] ⸢TÚG gi⸣-[né-e-šú ár-šá-ti lab-šú]
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 P239005.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P239005). 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/P239005/.
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