Position in chronology
SAA 04 069. Fragment Similar to No. 66 (PRT 015) [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (r 1) [Disregard that he who touches the forehead of the sheep] is dressed [in his ordinary soiled garment]s, [has eaten, drunk, or anointed himself with anything unclean], has altered or changed [the (ritual) proceedings, or (that) the oracle query] has become jumbled [in] his [mouth]. (r 4) [Disregard that I, the haruspex your servant], am dressed [in my ordinary] soiled garments.[Let them be taken out and put aside]! (r 5) [I ask you, Šamaš], great lo[rd, whether the governors and magnates, men, horses and ar]my [of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, who are going to col]lect tribute [......] (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/P236929/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[e-zib šá TAG-it SAG.KI UDU.NÍTA TÚG gi-né-e-šú ár-šá-a]-ti lab-šú / [mim-ma lu-ʾu-ú KÚ NAG-ú ŠÉŠ-šú ku-un qa-ti] BAL-ú uš-pe-lu / [ú—lu ta-mit i-na KA]-šú ip?-tar-ri-du / [e-zib šá a-na-ku DUMU—LÚ.ḪAL ARAD-ka TÚG gi-né-e-a] ⸢ar⸣-šá-a-ti lab-šá-ku / [lu-ú ZI-MEŠ lu-ú BAR-MEŠ a-šal-ka dUTU] ⸢EN⸣ GAL-ú / [ki-i LÚ.EN.NAM-MEŠ LÚ.GAL-MEŠ ERIM-MEŠ ANŠE.KUR.RA-MEŠ e]-⸢mu⸣-qu / [šá mdaš-šur—ŠEŠ—SUM-na LUGAL KUR—aš-šur a-na e]-se-er man-da-at-ta
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 P236929.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P236929). 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/P236929/.
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