Position in chronology
SAA 04 097. Fragment Similar to No. 96 [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (r 1) [Disregard that the subject of this query, Ša-Nabû]-šû, [chief eunuch, ...]. (r 2) [Disreg]ard that 20-30 Cimmerians [......]. (r 3) Disregard what [they talk] with [their] mouths [...]. (r 4) [Dis]regard that they talk and [......]. (r 5) [Disreg]ard the (formulation) of the prayer for today's case, [be it good or faulty]. (r 6) [Disregard th]at he who touches the fo[rehe]ad of the sheep [is dressed in his ordi]nary [soiled] garments. (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/P237533/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[e-zib šá EN—MU.MU NE-i mšá—dAG]-šú-ú [LÚ.GAL—SAG x x x] / [e]-⸢zib⸣ šá 20 30 LÚ.gi-mir-ra-a.a [x x x x x x] / e-zib šá ina pa-a-ti [i-dab-bu-bu x x x x x] / [e]-zib šá ⸢DUG₄⸣-MEŠ-ma [x x x x x x x x] / [e]-⸢zib⸣ šá ik-rib di-nim UD-mu NE-i [GIM DÙG.GA GIM ḫa-ṭu-ú] / [e-zib] ⸢šá⸣ TAG-it ⸢pu-ut⸣ UDU.NÍTA TÚG ⸢gi⸣-[né-e-šú ar-šá-ti lab-šú]
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 P237533.
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/P237533/..
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/P237533/.
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