Position in chronology
SAA 04 086. Fragment Similar to No. 84 (AGS 093) [military and political]
Translation — scholar edition
SAA 4(1) Šamaš, great lord, [give me a firm positive answer] to what I am [asking] you! (2) Should Esarhaddon, king of [Assyria], strive and plan, (3) [and take the road to ... with an ar]my, a[s he wishes]? (Break) (r 1) [Be present in this ram, place] (in it) a firm positive answer, [favorable designs, favorable, propitious omen]s by the oracular command of [your great] divinity, [and may I see (them)]. (r 3) [May (this query) go] to your great divinity, [O Šamaš, great lord, and may an oracle be given as an answer]. (r 4) The 'station,' 'path,' 'well-being,' and 'base of the throne' are present. (r 5) The lower part is elevated. The middle part [......]. (r 6) The breast-bone is thick. The c[oils of the colon ......]. (r 7) The heart of the r[am is normal. ......]
State Archives of Assyria, volume 4 — scholar edition (ORACC).
Transliteration
dUTU EN GAL-ú šá a-[šal-lu-ka an-na GI.NA a-pal-an-ni] / mdaš-šur—ŠEŠ—SUM-na LUGAL ⸢KUR⸣—[aš-šur.KI li-iṣ-rim lik-pid-ma] / [a-di e-mu]-qu ⸢mál⸣ [ŠÀ-ba-šú ub-lu ur-ḫa KASKAL] / [GUB-za]-⸢am-ma⸣ an-nam ⸢GI⸣.[NA GIŠ.ḪUR-MEŠ SILIM-MEŠ UZU-MEŠ ta-mit SIG₅-MEŠ] / [SILIM]-⸢MEŠ⸣ šá SILIM-tim šá KA DINGIR-[ti-ka GAL-ti šuk-nam-ma lu-mur] / UGU DINGIR-ti-ka GAL-ti [dUTU EN GAL-ú lil-lik-ma KIN li-tap-pal]…
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 P237209.
Attribution
Image: Adapted from Ivan Starr, Queries to the Sungod: Divination and Politics in Sargonid Assyria (State Archives of Assyria, 4), 1990. Lemmatised by Mikko Luukko, 2018, as part of the research programme of the Alexander von Humboldt Chair in the Ancient History of the Near and Middle East at LMU Munich (Karen Radner, Humboldt Professorship 2015). The annotated edition is released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license 3.0. Please cite this page as http://oracc.org/saao/P237209/..
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/P237209/.
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