Sumerian·Book

Position in chronology

SAA 04 139. Will There Be a Rebellion against Esarhaddon? (AGS 108) [military and political]

~675 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·P336086

Translation · reference

High confidence
(1) [Šamaš, great lord, give me a firm positive answer] to what I am asking you! (2) [From this day], the 6th day of this month, the month Ad[ar (XII), to the 5th day of the month Sivan (III) of the coming year], [for 90 day]s and nights, my stipulated term — [within this stipulated term], (4) [will (any of) the] eunuchs and the bearded (officials), [the king's] entourage, [or senior members of the royal line, or] junior members of the royal line, or any relative of the king [whosoever], (6) [or the prefect]s, or the recruitment officers and te[am] comma[nders, or the royal bo]dyguard, or…

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/P336086/

Why it matters

Transliteration

[dUTU EN GAL]-ú šá a-šal-lu-ka [an-na GI.NA a-pal-an-ni] / [TA UD NE-i] UD 06-KÁM šá ITI an-ni-e ITI.⸢ŠE⸣ [a-di UD 05-KÁM šá ITI.SIG₄ šá MU.AN.NA TU-ti] / [a-na 90 UD]-⸢MEŠ⸣ 90 MI-MEŠ ši-kin a-dan-ni-a [i-na ši-kin a-dan-ni šu-a-tú] / [lu-ú LÚ].SAG-MEŠ šá—ziq-ni man-za-az—pa-ni [LUGAL lu-ú NUMUN—LUGAL IGI-MEŠ] / [lu-ú] ⸢NUMUN⸣—LUGAL EGIR-MEŠ lu-ú qur-ub LUGAL mim-[ma mál GÁL-ú] / [lu-ú…

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 P336086.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336086). 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/P336086/.

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