SAA 04 210. Fragment of a Query on Behalf of Esarhaddon (PRT 071) [unclassifiable]

~675 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·P240298

Translation — scholar edition

SAA 4

High confidence

(1) [Šamaš], great [lord, give me a firm positive answer to what I am] asking you! (2) [Esarh]addon, king of Assyria, who is now intent on [......]... and (whom) your [great divinity knows ......] (Break) (r 1) [...] the vertebrae [......]. (r 2) [...] The breast-bone is located in the middle of the liver [...]. (r 3) [May (this query) go to] your great divinity, O Šamaš, [great] lord, [and may an oracle be given as an answer]. (r 4) [... Mo]nth Adar (XII), 22nd day, [...].

State Archives of Assyria, volume 4 — scholar edition (ORACC).

Transliteration

[dUTU EN] ⸢GAL-ú⸣ [šá a]-šal-lu-ka [an-na GI.NA a-pal-an-ni] / [mAN.ŠÁR]—⸢ŠEŠ⸣—SUM-na LUGAL KUR—AN.ŠÁR šá ⸢TA⸣-[an-ni x x x x x] / [x x x] ⸢ti-iṣ?-mu?-ru-ma DINGIR-ut-ka⸣ [GAL-ti ZU-ú] / [x x x] KIŠIB [x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x] / [x x x] GAG.ZAG.GA ina MURUB₄ BÀ ŠUB [x x x x] / [UGU DINGIR]-⸢ti⸣-ka GAL-ti dUTU ⸢EN⸣ [GAL-ú lil-lik-ma KIN li-tap-pal] / [x x x] ⸢ITI.ŠE⸣ UD 22-KÁM [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 P240298.

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/P240298/..
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/P240298/.

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