Position in chronology
SAA 04 063. Will Chief Eunuch Ša-Nabu-šu Capture Amul? (PRT 009+) [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, king of] Assyria, send Ša-Nabû-šû, chief eunuch, [and the army] at his disposal [to take the road, and] to go to capture the city Amul? (4) If they go and set up ca[mp be]fore [that ci]ty, [Amul], will they, be it by means of war, [... o]r by force, or through tun[nels and breaches, or by means of ramps, o]r by means of battering rams, (7) or through fri[endliness or peaceful negotiation]s, or through insurrection and rebellion [......], [or through any ruse of] capturing a city, (9)…
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/P238980/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[dUTU EN GAL-ú šá a-šal]-lu-ka an-nam GI.NA a-pal-an-ni / [mdaš-šur—ŠEŠ—SUM-na LUGAL] ⸢KUR⸣—aš-šur.KI liš-pur-ma mšá—dAG—MU GAL*—LÚ.SAG-MEŠ / [a-di e-mu-qu mál it]-ti-šú a-na ṣa-ba-a-ta URU.a-mul / [ur-ḫa ḫar-ra-na li-iṣ-bu-tu-ma] ⸢lil⸣-li-ku GIM it-tal-ku-ma i-na ⸢UGU URU⸣ [UR₅-tú] / [URU.a-mul ma-dak]-ta il-ta-kan i-na DÙ-eš GIŠ.TUKUL [MURUB₄ u MÈ] / [lu-ú i-na x x x lu]-ú i-na da-na-na lu-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 P238980.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P238980). 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/P238980/.
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