Position in chronology
SAA 04 242. Fragment of a Query (PRT 085) [unclassifiable]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (r 1) [Disregard that he who touches the] forehead [of the sheep is dressed in his ordinary soiled garments], has eaten, drunk, [or anointed himself with anything unclean, ......], (or) [has alter]ed or chan[ged the proceedings]. (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/P237417/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[e-zib šá TAG-it] ⸢SAG.KI⸣ [UDU.NÍTA TÚG gi-né-e-šú ár-šá-ti lab-šú] / [mim-ma lu-ʾu-ú] KÚ ⸢NAG⸣-[ú ŠÉŠ-šú x x x x x x x x x] / [ku-un qa-ti BAL]-ú ú-šá-[an-nu-ú 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 P237417.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P237417). 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/P237417/.
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