Position in chronology
SAA 04 186. Medical(?) Query Concerning Prince Assurbanipal [medical]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) [Šamaš], great [lord, give me a firm positive answer] to what I am asking you! (2) [Assurbani]pal, the crown prince [of the Succession Palace], (3) [...] ...[......] (Break) (r 1) [Be present in this ram], place (in it) [a firm positive answer, favorable designs, favorable, propitious omens by the oracular command of your great divinity], and [may I see (them)]. (r 2) [May (this query) go to] your great [divini]ty, O Šamaš, great lord, [and may an oracle be given as an answer]. (r 3) [...] is present. The 'well-being' is present. The gall bladder is like a wedge. [The 'ba]se of the throne' [...]. (r 4) [... The breast-bone] is thick. The coils of the colon are 14 in number. The heart of the sheep is normal [...].
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/P336619/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[dUTU EN] GAL-ú šá a-šal-lu-⸢ka⸣ [an-na GI.NA a-pal-an-ni] / [mdaš-šur—DÙ]—DUMU.UŠ DUMU—LUGAL [šá É—re-du-ti] / [x x x x] ú [x x x x x x x x x x] / [x x x šá KA DINGIR-ti-ka GAL-ti šuk]-⸢nam⸣-ma [lu-mur] / [UGU DINGIR]-⸢ti⸣-ka GAL-ti dUTU EN GAL-[ú lil-lik-ma KIN li-tap-pal] / [x x x x x] GAR? SILIM GAR ZÉ GIM áš-kut-ti ⸢BE ŠUB⸣—AŠ.TE [x x x x x x] / [x x x x x x x x GAG.ZAG.GA] e-bi ŠÀ.NIGIN 14 ŠÀ UDU SILIM [x x x x x x]
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 P336619.
Attribution
Image: Adapted from Ivan Starr, Queries to the Sungod: Divination and Politics in Sargonid Assyria (State Archives of Assyria, 4), 1990. Lemmatised by Mikko Luukko, 2018, as part of the research programme of the Alexander von Humboldt Chair in the Ancient History of the Near and Middle East at LMU Munich (Karen Radner, Humboldt Professorship 2015). The annotated edition is released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license 3.0. Please cite this page as http://oracc.org/saao/P336619/..
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/P336619/.
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