Position in chronology
SAA 04 100. Fragment Similar to No. 96 (AGS 092) [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) [Šamaš, great lord, gi]ve me a firm positive answer [to what I am ask]ing you! (2) Should [Esarhaddon, kin]g of Assyria, strive and pla[n? Should he send NN with men], horses, and troops, as he wi[shes ......]? (Break) (r 1) [Be present in this ram], place (in it) a firm [positive answ]er, favorable designs, [favorable, propitious omens 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 'str]ength' is absent. The 'path' on the left of…
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/P336075/
Why it matters
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] / [mx x x x x a-di LÚ.ERIM]-MEŠ ANŠE.KUR.RA-MEŠ e-mu-qí mál ⸢ŠÀ⸣-[ba-šú ub-lu] / [ina ŠÀ UDU.NÍTA NE-i GUB-za-am-ma an]-⸢na⸣ 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…
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 P336075.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336075). 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/P336075/.
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