Position in chronology
SAA 04 234. Fragment of a Query (PRT 078) [unclassifiable]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) [Disregard the (formulation) of] to[day's case, be it good, be it faulty]. (2) [Disregard that a clean or an unclean person] has touched the sacrificial sheep, [or blocked the way of the sacrificial sheep]. (3) [Disregard that an unclean man or] woman has [come] near the place [of the exti]spicy and [made it unclean]. (4) [Disregard that] an unclean person [has performed] extispicy [in this place]. (b.e. 5) [The 'finger'] is thick. In the base on the left surface of the 'finger' [there is] a hole. (b.e. 6) [...] in its left side. The coils of the colon are 15 [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/P240258/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[e-zib šá di-in UD-mu an-ni]-i [GIM DÙG.GA GIM ḫa-ṭu-ú] / [e-zib šá KUG lu-ʾu-ú] SISKUR ⸢TAG⸣-[MEŠ lu-ú ana IGI SISKUR.SISKUR GIL-MEŠ] / [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] / [BE ŠU].⸢SI⸣ eb-bet ina SUḪUŠ? EDIN 150 BÙR [ŠUB] / [x x x] i-na 150-šú ŠÀ.NIGIN 15 [x x x] / [x x ŠÀ UDU.NÍTA SILIM]-im 03-tum [(x)] / [e-zib šá…
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 P240258.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P240258). 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/P240258/.
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