Position in chronology
SAA 04 130. Should Esarhaddon Carry out a Plan Written on Papyrus? (AGS 097+) [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) [Šamaš, great lord, give me a fi]rm positive answer to what I am asking you! (2) [Should Esarhad]don, king of Assyria, [plan whatever] is written [in] this [pa]pyrus and [placed] before [your great] divinity, and do accordingly? (5) Is it pleasing to your great divinity? Is it ac[ceptable] to your great divinity? Does your great divinity kn[ow it]? (8) [Is it dec]reed and [con]firmed in a favorable case, by the command of your great divinity, Šamaš, [great] lo[rd]? Will he who can see, see it? Will he who can hear, [hear it]? (10) [Disregard the (formulation) of] today's case, be it good…
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/P336078/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[dUTU EN GAL]-ú šá a-šal-lu-ka an-na GI.[NA a-pal-an-ni] / [mim-ma šá i-na] ⸢ni⸣-a-ri an-na-a šaṭ-ru-ma i-na IGI DINGIR-ti-[ka GAL-ti GAR-un] / [mdaš-šur—ŠEŠ]—SUM-na LUGAL KUR—da-šur₄.[KI] / [x x x]-⸢ma⸣ ap—pi-it-ti le-⸢pu⸣-[ú-šú] / ⸢UGU⸣ DINGIR-ti-ka GAL-ti DÙG.⸢GA⸣-[i] / pa-an DINGIR-ti-ka GAL-ti ⸢ma⸣-[ḫi-i-ri] / DINGIR-ti-ka GAL-ti ⸢ZU⸣-[e] / i-na SILIM-tim i-na KA DINGIR-ti-ka GAL-ti dUTU…
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 P336078.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336078). 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/P336078/.
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