Position in chronology
SAA 04 177. Fragment Similar to No. 156 (AGS 132) [appointment]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) [Will Esarhaddon, king of] Assyria, [......] be troub[led and worried]? (3) [Will ...... in a tru]e and fitting manner [......]? (Break) (r 1) [Disregard that I, the haru]spex your ser[vant, have jumbled the oracle query in my mouth, or] changed (or) altered [the proceedings].[Let them be taken out and put aside]! (r 3) [I ask you, Šamaš], great [lord], whether, (should) [Esarha]ddon, king of As[syria, ......] the man [whose name is wri]tten [in this papyrus] and [placed] before [your great divinity], he will be [troub]led [and worried ......]. (r 7) Be present [in]…
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/P336103/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[x x x x mdaš-šur—ŠEŠ—SUM-na LUGAL] ⸢KUR⸣—aš-šur.⸢KI⸣ [x x x x x x] / [x x x x x x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ ŠÀ-bu-šú i-⸢mar⸣-[ra-ṣa i-lam-mì-ni] / [x x x x x x x ki-na-a]-⸢te⸣ tar-ṣa-a-te ⸢ú⸣-[x x x x x x x x x x x] / [e-zib šá a-na-ku DUMU]—⸢LÚ⸣.ḪAL ⸢ARAD⸣-[ka ta-mit i-na KA-ia up-tar-ri-du] / [ku-un qa-ti BAL]-ú uš-pe-⸢lu⸣ [lu-ú ZI-MEŠ lu-ú BAR-MEŠ] / [a-šal-ka dUTU EN] ⸢GAL⸣-ú ki-i ⸢LÚ⸣ [šá MU-šú i-na…
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 P336103.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336103). 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/P336103/.
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