Position in chronology
SAA 04 162. Fragment Similar to No. 156 (AGS 120) [appointment]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) [Or] will he act [with evil intent against Esa]rhaddon, king [of Assyria, and Assurbanipal, the crown prin]ce of the Succession Palace? [Does your] great [divinity know it]? (4) [Is it decreed and confirmed in a favorable case, by the command] of your great divinity, Šamaš, [great] lord? [Will he who can see], see it? Will he who can hear, [hear it]? (6) [Disregard the (formulation) of today's case], be it good, be it fau[lty]. (7) (In Aramaic script:) Nabû-šallim (and) Aqaraya. (r 1) [Disregard that a clean or unclean person has] touched [the sacrificial sheep], 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/P336097/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[ŠU.2-su a-na ḪUL-tim ana ŠÀ-bi mdaš]-⸢šur⸣—ŠEŠ—SUM-na ⸢LUGAL⸣ [KUR—aš-šur.KI] / [ù mdaš-šur—DÙ—DUMU.UŠ DUMU]—⸢LUGAL⸣ šá É—⸢re⸣-[du]-ú-te ub-⸢bal⸣-[la] / [DINGIR-ut-ka] ⸢GAL-ti⸣ [ZU-e] / [ina SILIM-tim ina KA] ⸢DINGIR⸣-ti-ka GAL-ti dUTU EN [GAL-ú] / [qa-bi-i ku-un-i IGI-ru] ⸢IGI⸣-ra še-mu-ú i-[šem-me-e] / [e-zib šá di-in UD-me an-ni]-e GIM DÙG.GA GIM ḫa-⸢ṭu⸣-[u] / nbw-šlm ʾq[rʾ] / [e-zib šá KUG…
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 P336097.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336097). 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/P336097/.
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