Position in chronology
SAA 04 143. Will NN Make a Rebellion against Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal? [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) [...... re]bellion of Assyria (2) [......? Is the instigation of insurrection] and rebellion, [by the man whose name is] written [in this papyrus, against Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, and Assurbani]pal, the crown prince of the Succession Palace, (5) [decreed and confirmed in a favorable case, by the command of your great divinity, Šamaš], great lord? [Has he who can see, seen it? Has he who can hear], heard it? (r 1) [Disregard the (formulation) of today's case, be it good, be it fa]ulty. (r 2) [Disregard that a clean or unclean person has touched the sacrificial…
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/P336614/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[x x x x x x x x x x x x] ⸢bar-ti KUR?—aš-šur?⸣ / [x x x x x x x x DÙ-eš? si-ḫi] bar-⸢ti⸣ / [šá LÚ šá MU-šú i-na ni-a-ri an-na-a] ⸢šá⸣-aṭ-ru / [a-na UGU mdaš-šur—ŠEŠ—SUM-na LUGAL KUR—aš-šur.KI ù mdaš-šur]—⸢DÙ⸣—DUMU.UŠ DUMU—LUGAL šá É—UŠ-te / [i-na SILIM-tim i-na KA DINGIR-ti-ka GAL-ti dUTU] EN GAL-ú / [qa-bi-i ku-un-i IGI-ru IGI-ra ŠE.GA-ú] iš-me-e / [e-zib šá di-in UD-mi an-ni-i GIM DÙG-ab GIM…
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 P336614.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336614). 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/P336614/.
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