Position in chronology
SAA 04 170. Fragment Similar to No. 156 (AGS 112) [appointment]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) [Will he who can see], se[e it? Will he who can hear, hear it]? (2) [Disregard the (formulation) of the prayer for] today's case, [be it good, be it faulty]. (3) [Disregard that the ram (offered) to] your great [divinity] for the performance of the extispicy [is deficient or faulty]. (4) [Disregard that he who touches the forehead] of the sheep [is dressed] in his ordinary soiled garments. (5) [Disregard that I, the haruspex] your [servant, am dressed in] my ordinary [soiled] garments, [have changed] or altered [the proceedings], (or that) the oracle query has…
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/P240244/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[a-mi-ru] im-[ma-a-ra še-mu-ú i-šem-mé-e] / [e-zib šá ik-rib di]-⸢nim⸣ UD-mu ⸢NE-i⸣ [GIM DÙG.GA GIM ḫa-ṭu-ú] / [e-zib šá UDU.NÍTA DINGIR]-⸢ti⸣-ka šá a-na MÁŠ MÁŠ-ú [LAL-ú ḫa-ṭu-ú] / [e-zib šá TAG-it pu-ut] UDU.NÍTA TÚG gi-né-e-šú ár-[šá-ti lab-šú] / [e-zib šá a-na-ku DUMU—LÚ.ḪAL ARAD]-ka TÚG gi-né-e-a ⸢ár⸣-[šá-ti lab-šá-ku] / [ku-un qa-ti BAL]-ú uš-pe-lu ta-mit ina KA-ía ⸢ip⸣-[tar-ri-du 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 P240244.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P240244). 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/P240244/.
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