Sumerian·Book

Position in chronology

SAA 04 075. Fragment Similar to No. 4 (AGS 077) [military and political]

~675 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·P238963

Translation · reference

High confidence
(Beginning destroyed) (1) [If] ...... [have s]ent [......], have they honestly sent true, sincere words [of reconciliation] to E[sarhaddon, king of Assyria]? Does your great divinity know it? (5) [Is it decreed and confirmed in a favorable case, by] the command of your great divinity, Šamaš, great lord? (6) [Disregard the formulation of] to[day's case], be it good, be it faulty. (7) [Disregard that the ram] (offered to) your [divini]ty for the performance of the extispicy is deficient or fa[ulty]. (r 1) [Disregard that he who touches the] forehead of the sheep [is dressed] in his ordinary…

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/P238963/

Why it matters

Transliteration

[x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣-bu*-⸢x⸣ lu* mki-⸢tu?-ú⸣ [x x x] / [x x x iš-pu]-ru-ni dib-bi-i ki-nu-tu ša-⸢al⸣-[mu-tu] / [šá su-lum-mé-e i]-na kit-ti ŠÀ-bi-šú-un-ú a-na md⸢aš⸣-[šur—ŠEŠ—SUM-na] / [LUGAL KUR—aš-šur.KI] ⸢iš⸣-pu-ru-ni DINGIR-ut-ka GAL-ti ZU-[e] / [i-na SILIM-tim i-na] KA DINGIR-ti-ka GAL-ti dUTU EN GAL-ú [qa-bi-i ku-un-i] / [e-zib šá di-in UD-mi] an-ni-i GIM DÙG.GA GIM ḫa-ṭu-[ú] / [e-zib šá…

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 P238963.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P238963). 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/P238963/.

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