Position in chronology
SAA 04 103. Fragment Similar to No. 101 (AGS 079) [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (2) [... Will he who can see, see it? Will he who can hear], hear it? (3) [Disregard the (formulation) of today's case, be it good, be it] faulty. (4) [Disregard that an unclean man or woman has come near the place of the extispicy and made it] unclean. (5) [Disregard that an unclean person has performed] extispicy [in this place]. (6) [Disregard that the ram (offered) to your divinity for the performance of the extispicy is deficient or] faulty. (7) [...... The gall] bladder is present. (8) [......] (9) [......]. The 'weapon'-mark of the 'increment' r[ises] to the left.…
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/P238996/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[x x x x x x x x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣-MEŠ / [x x x x x x x IGI-ru IGI-ra ŠE.GA]-ú ŠE.GA-e / [e-zib šá di-in UD-mu an-ni-i GIM DÙG.GA GIM ḫa-ṭu]-ú / [e-zib šá lu-ʾu-ú lu-ʾu-ú-tu a-šar MÁŠ DIB.DIB-ma ú-le-ʾu]-ú / [e-zib šá i-na KI an-ni-i lu-ʾu-ú MÁŠ MÁŠ]-ú / [e-zib šá UDU.NÍTA DINGIR-ti-ka šá a-na MÁŠ MÁŠ-ú LAL-ú ḫa-ṭu]-ú / [x x x x x x x x x x x x x x] ⸢ZÉ⸣ GAR-in / [x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣…
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 P238996.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P238996). 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/P238996/.
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