Sumerian·Book

Position in chronology

SAA 04 109. Fragment Similar to no. 108 (PRT 093) [military and political]

~675 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·P237405

Translation · reference

High confidence
(Beginning destroyed) (1) [......] at his dis[posal ......] (2) [...... the arm]y of Esarhaddon, [king of Assyria], (3) [......] an attac[k ......] (4) [......] the han[ds of ......] (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/P237405/

Why it matters

Transliteration

[x x x x x x] ma-al it-[ti-šú x x x x x x] / [x x x x Á].⸢KAL⸣ šá mdaš-šur—ŠEŠ—SUM-[na LUGAL KUR—aš-šur] / [x x x x x x x]-iz? ZI-⸢bu⸣ [ši-iḫ-ṭu x x x x x] / [x x x x x x x] ⸢lu*⸣ ŠU.[2-su-un a-na ḪUL-tim 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 P237405.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P237405). 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/P237405/.

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