Position in chronology
SAA 04 171. Fragment Similar to No. 156 (PRT 054) [appointment]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (r 1) I ask [you, Šamaš, great lord, whether, (should) Esarhaddon], king of Ass[yria, appoint the man whose name is written in this papyrus and placed before your great divinity], to the [position of his choosing], (r 4) he will instigate [or cause others to instigate] an insurrection and rebellion [against Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, ......]. (Rest destroyed)
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/P240405/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[x x x x x x x] a-šal-[ka dUTU EN GAL-ú GAL-ú ki-i mdaš-šur—ŠEŠ—SUM-na] / LUGAL KUR—aš-⸢šur⸣.[KI LÚ šá MU-šú i-na ni-a-ra an-ni-i šaṭ-ru i-na IGI DINGIR-ti-ka GAL-ti GAR-un] / a-na UGU-⸢ḫi⸣ [pi-qit-ti KI ŠÀ-šú ub-lam ip-taq-du-uš x x x x x x] / si-ḫu ḪI.⸢GAR⸣ [a-na UGU mdaš-šur—ŠEŠ—SUM-na] [LUGAL KUR—aš-šur.KI] / ⸢ip⸣-pu-⸢šú⸣-[ú ú-še-pi-šú]
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 P240405.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P240405). 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/P240405/.
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