Position in chronology
SAA 04 158. Fragment Similar to No. 156 (AGS 118) [appointment]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) Should [Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, appoint the man whose name] is written [in th]is [papyrus and placed before your great divinity, to the position which is written in this papyrus? (3) If he appoints him, as long as he holds this position], will he instigate an insurrection and rebellion against E[sarhaddon, king of Assyria, and Assurbanipal, the crown prince of the Succession Palace], (or) cause others to instigate it? (5) [Will he order it or cause others to order it? Will he plot it] (or) cause others to plot it? Will he [incite it, or cause others to incite…
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/P336095/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[a-me-lu šá MU-šú i-na ni-ia-a-ri an-na-a šaṭ-ru-ma a-na IGI DINGIR-ti-ka GAL-ti GAR-un] / [mdaš-šur—ŠEŠ—SUM-na LUGAL KUR—aš-šur.KI a-na pi-qit-tu-ú-ti šá i-na ŠÀ-bi ni-ia-a-ri] / [an]-⸢na⸣-a šá-aṭ-rat-tú ⸢li⸣-[ip-qi-su GIM ip-taq-du-uš a-di UD-MEŠ mál pi-qi-tu-ú-tu šu-a-tu ep-pu-šú] / [si]-ḫu ḪI.GAR i-na UGU md[aš-šur—ŠEŠ—SUM-na LUGAL KUR—aš-šur.KI ù mdaš-šur—DÙ—DUMU.UŠ DUMU—LUGAL šá É—re-du-ti]…
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 P336095.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336095). 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/P336095/.
Related tablets
Related sources
The single most important literary discovery of the 19th century. It rewired the understanding of the Bible's literary context and proved that the Mesopotamian flood tradition is older. It is the oldest surviving epic poetry in human history.
The literary tradition is no longer anonymous from this point. Authorship — the idea that a specific human voice composes a specific work — enters the historical record with her.
The single most influential Mesopotamian king list — the model for every later attempt to chronicle the deep history of the region. It transmits the political theology of divinely granted kingship, an idea that would echo through Babylon, Assyria, and into the Hebrew Bible. The Weld-Blundell prism (WB 444) at the Ashmolean is the most complete surviving copy.