Position in chronology
SAA 04 226. Fragment of a Query (AGS 088) [unclassifiable]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) [...... Will he who can see, see] it? Will he who can hear, [hear it]? (2) [Disregard that ......] joyful [...]. (3) [Disregard the (formulation) of the prayer for today's case], be it good, [be it faulty]. (4) [Disregard that a clean or an unclean person] has touched [the] sacrificial [sheep], or [blocked the way of the sacrificial sheep]. (b.e. 5) [... Mardu]k-šumu-uṣur, Naṣi[ru ...]. (r 1) [Disregard that an unclean man or] woman has come [near] the place of the extispicy [and made it unclean]. (r 2) [Disregard that an] unclean person [has performed extispicy in…
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/P238961/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[x x x x x IGI-ru IGI]-ra ŠE-[ú ŠE-e] / [e-zib šá x x x x]-MEŠ ḪÚL-ú-MEŠ ⸢x⸣+[x x x] / [e-zib šá di-in UD-me an-ni]-i GIM DÙG-ab [GIM ḫa-ṭu-ú] / [e-zib šá KUG lu-ʾu-ú SISKUR].⸢SISKUR⸣ TAG-tú lu-ú [a-na IGI SISKUR.SISKUR GIL-MEŠ-ku] / [x x x x mdAMAR].⸢UTU⸣—MU—ŠEŠ mna-ṣi-[ru x x x x] / [e-zib šá lu-ʾu-ú lu-ʾu-ú]-⸢ti⸣ KI MÁŠ DIB.[DIB-ma ú-le-ʾu-ú] / [e-zib šá ina KI an-ni-i lu]-ʾi-i [MÁŠ MÁŠ-ú] /…
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 P238961.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P238961). 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/P238961/.
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