Position in chronology
SAA 04 222. Fragment of a Query (PRT 092) [unclassifiable]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (2) [... the subject of] this que[ry ......] (Break) (r 1) [......] of the left [......] (r 2) Šumâ [and NN, reporters]. (r 3) [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)].
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/P237009/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[x x x x] ka [x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x] / [x x EN—MU].MU NE-[i x x x x x x x x x x x x x x] / [x x x x] ⸢šá⸣ 150 ⸢x⸣+[x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x] / [o] mšu-ma-[a x x x x x x x x x x x x x x] / [i-na ŠÀ] UDU.NÍTA an-ni-[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]
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 P237009.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P237009). 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/P237009/.
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