Position in chronology
SAA 04 173. Fragment Similar to No. 156 [appointment]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) [Šamaš, great lord], gi[ve 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 po]sition [which is written] in [this papyrus]? (Break) (r 1) May (this query) go [to your great divinity, O Šamaš, great lord], and [may an oracle be given as an answer].
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/P240344/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[dUTU EN GAL-ú šá a-šal-lu-ka] an-nam GI.NA ⸢a⸣-[pal-an-ni] / [LÚ šá MU-šú i-na ni-ʾa-a-ra an-na-a šaṭ-ru-ma] i-na IGI DINGIR-ti-⸢ka⸣ [GAL-ti GAR-un] / [mdaš-šur—ŠEŠ—SUM-na LUGAL KUR—aš-šur.KI a-na pi]-⸢qí⸣-tu-tu šá ⸢ina⸣ [ni-ʾa-a-ra an-na-a šaṭ-rat-tu] / [x x x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣-MEŠ ⸢x⸣+[x x x x x x x x x x] / [UGU DINGIR-ti-ka GAL-ti dUTU EN GAL-ú] lil-lik-ma [KIN li-tap-pal]
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 P240344.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P240344). 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/P240344/.
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