SAA 04 233. Fragment of a Query (PRT 076) [unclassifiable]

~675 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·P240399

Translation — scholar edition

SAA 4

High confidence

(Beginning destroyed) (r 1) [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 2) May (this query) go [to your great divinity, O Šamaš], great lord, and [may] an oracle [be given as an answer]. (r 3) [The gall-bladder is s]plit [on the right] and attached on the left ...[...]. (r 4) [...... The breast-bo]ne in its entirety lies on its back. The coils of the co[lon are ... in number]. (r 5) [...... second extis]picy. The 'station' [......]. (r 6) [......]. The upper [part ...]. (Rest destroyed)

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

Transliteration

[ta-mit SIG₅-MEŠ SILIM-MEŠ šá SILIM]-⸢tim šá KA⸣ [DINGIR-ti-ka GAL-ti šuk-nam-ma lu-mur] / [UGU DINGIR-ti-ka GAL-ti dUTU] ⸢EN⸣ GAL-ú lil-lik-ma KIN [li-tap-pal] / [x x x x BE ZÉ ana 15] ⸢DU₈*⸣-ma ana* 150 ṣa-mid ki si? [x x x] / [x x x x x x GAG.ZAG].⸢GA?⸣ TÉŠ.BI na-pár-qud ŠÀ.⸢NIGIN⸣ [x x] / [x x x x x x x šá-ni]-tum BE NA ra-⸢x⸣+[x x x x] / [x x x x x x x x] ⸢IGI?⸣ BE AN.[TA 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 P240399.

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/P240399/..
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/P240399/.

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