Position in chronology
SAA 04 216. Fragment of a Query on Behalf of Esarhaddon (PRT 090) [unclassifiable]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) [Disregard that ... is cl]ipped [......]. (2) [Let] them be taken out and put [aside]! (r 1) [I ask you, Šamaš, great lord], whether, (should) Esarhaddon, [king of Assyria, ...] (Rest destroyed)
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/P236925/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[x x x nu-uḫ]-⸢ḫu⸣-ta-at ni-⸢x⸣+[x x x x x x x] / [x x lu-ú] ZI-MEŠ-ḫa lu-ú [BAR-MEŠ-ra x x x x x] / [a-šal-ka dUTU EN GAL-ú] GIM mdaš-šur—ŠEŠ—SUM-⸢na⸣ [LUGAL KUR—aš-šur] / [x x x x x x x x] ⸢x x x⸣ šu [x x x 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 P236925.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P236925). 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/P236925/.
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