Position in chronology
SAA 04 204. Query Concerning the God Daguna (PRT 074) [cultic]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) Šamaš, great lord, [give me a firm positive answer to what I am asking you]! (2) The god Daguna [......] (Break) (r 2) (whether) [it is pleasing] to [... great ...], (whether) it is accep[table to ... great ...].[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 6) [May (this query) go] to your [great] divinity, [O Šamaš, great lord, and may an oracle be given as an answer]. (r 7) The 'station' is present. The beginning of the 'pa[th' ......]. (r 8) There is a niphu in the 'yoke.' [......]. (e. 1) [NN, ...y]a, Marduk-šu[mu-uṣur], (e. 2) [NN, ...-ze]ru-lišir.
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/P336351/
Why it matters
Transliteration
dUTU EN GAL-⸢ú⸣ [šá a-šal-lu-ka an-na GI.NA a-pal-an-ni] / dda-gu*-⸢ú*⸣-[na x x x x x x x x x x x x x x] / ⸢an?⸣ [x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x] / ⸢UGU?⸣ [x x x x GAL x DÙG.GA-i IGI x x x x GAL x] / ma-⸢aḫ⸣-[ru i-na ŠÀ UDU.NÍTA NE-i GUB-za-am-ma] / an-⸢na⸣ [GI.NA GIŠ.ḪUR-MEŠ SILIM-MEŠ UZU-MEŠ ta-mit SIG₅-MEŠ SILIM-MEŠ] / šá SILIM-⸢tim⸣ [šá KA DINGIR-ti-ka GAL-ti šuk-nam-ma lu-mur] / UGU…
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 P336351.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336351). 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/P336351/.
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