Position in chronology
SAA 04 090. Should Prince Assurbanipal Send Nabu-šarru-uṣur to Egypt? (AGS 067) [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) [Šam]aš, great lord, give me a firm positive answer to what I am asking you! (2) [Should Assur]banipal, son of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, [send Nabû-šarru-uṣu]r, rab mūgi, to Egypt, as he wishes, and [should he g]o? If he goes, will he successfully carry out whatever oral orders [Assur]banipal is giving to him? (7) Does your great divinity know it? Is it decreed and confirmed in a favorable case, by the command of your great divinity, [Šamaš], great lord? Will he who can see, see it? Will he who can hear, hear it? (10) [Disregard] the (formulation) of today's case, be it good, be it…
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/P336062/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[d]⸢UTU⸣ EN GAL-ú šá a-šal-lu-ka an-na GI.NA a-pal-an-ni / [mdaš-šur]—DÙ—DUMU.UŠ DUMU mdaš-šur—ŠEŠ—SUM-na LUGAL KUR—aš-šur.KI / [mdAG]—⸢LUGAL*⸣—[ú]-⸢ṣur*⸣ LÚ.GAL—mu-gi a-na KUR.mu-uṣ-ri a-šar ŠÀ-ba-šú ub-lu / [liš-pur-ma] ⸢lil⸣-lik GIM it-tal-ku me-am-ma di-ib-bi ṭè-e-mu / [šá mdaš-šur]—DÙ—DUMU.UŠ i-šá-kan-nù-šú / [ú]-šal-lá-a-ma e-pu-ú-šú / DINGIR-⸢ut⸣-ka GAL-ti ZU-⸢e*⸣ / [i]-na SILIM-tim i-na…
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 P336062.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336062). 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/P336062/.
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