Position in chronology
SAA 04 110. Fragment Similar to no. 108 (AGS 091) [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) [Šamaš, great lord, give me a fi]rm positive answer [to what I am ask]ing you! (2) Should [Esarhaddon, ki]ng of Assyria, strive and plan? (3) [Should he send men, horse]s and troops, as he wishes, [to the dis]trict and the cities written [in] this [pap]yrus, and placed [before] your great [divinity]? Should they go? (8) Is it pleasing [to your gre]at [divinity]? (9) [Is it dec]reed and confirmed [in a favorable case, by the command] of your great divinity, [Šamaš, great lord]? (11) [Disregard the (formulation) of today's case], be it good, be it faulty, (and that) the day is overcast.…
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/P336074/
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⸣ / [ERIM-MEŠ ANŠE.KUR.RA]-⸢MEŠ⸣ Á.KAL-MEŠ mál ŠÀ-ba-šú ub-lu / [a-na x x] ⸢na⸣-ge-e a-na URU-MEŠ-ni / [šá i-na ni]-⸢ʾa⸣-a-ra an-na-a šaṭ-⸢ru⸣-ú-ma / [i-na ma-ḫar DINGIR-ti]-ka GAL-ti GAR-an / [liš-pur-ma] lil-li-ku-⸢ú⸣ / [a-na UGU DINGIR-ti-ka] ⸢GAL⸣-ti DÙG.GA-i / [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 P336074.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336074). 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/P336074/.
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