Position in chronology
SAA 04 166. Query Similar to No. 156 (PRT 056) [appointment]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) Šamaš, great lord, [give me a firm positive answer] to what I am asking [you]! (2) [Should Esarhaddon, king of Assyria], appoint the man whose name [is written] in [this] papyrus and [placed] before your great divinity, to the office whi[ch is written in this papyrus]? (5) If he appo[ints him, will he] instigate [an insurrection and rebellion against Esarhaddon, ki]ng of Assyria, or against [Assurbanipal, the crown prince of the Succession Palace], or will he cause others to instigate it? (7) [Will he plot it, or cause others to plot it? Will he incite it]? Or will someone else [cause him…
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/P240263/
Why it matters
Transliteration
⸢d⸣UTU EN GAL-ú šá a-šal-⸢lu⸣-[ka an-na GI.NA a-pal-an-ni] / LÚ šá MU-šú i-na ni-ʾa-a-⸢ra⸣ [an-na-a šaṭ-ru-ú-ma] / i-na IGI DINGIR-ti-ka GAL-ti [GAR-un mdaš-šur—ŠEŠ—SUM-na LUGAL KUR—aš-šur.KI] / a-na LÚ.EN—pi-qit-tu-tu ⸢šá⸣ [i-na ni-ʾa-a-ra an-na-a šaṭ-ra-tu] / li-ip-qid-⸢su⸣ GIM ip-te-⸢eq⸣-[du-uš si-ḫu bar-tu i-na UGU mdaš-šur—ŠEŠ—SUM-na] / ⸢LUGAL⸣ KUR—aš-šur lu-ú a-na UGU md[aš-šur—DÙ—DUMU.UŠ…
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 P240263.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P240263). 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/P240263/.
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