Position in chronology
SAA 04 288. Will the Assyrian Army Prevail over Šamaš-šumu-ukin’s? (PRT 126) [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) If there is a 'weapon'-mark [over the 'increment' which rises] fr[om right to left]: my army will [take] the spoils of the enemy's army. (3) The front of the atrophied part is effaced and [......]. (4) If the 'ear' is present: My army [......]. (Break) (r 2) Will [the weapons of ......]... prevail over the weapons of the men [and army] of Šamaš-šumu-u[kin]? (r 5) (When) the extispicy was performed, [its] favorable omens [were numerous, its] unfavorable ones [few]. (r 7) Mon[th Iy]yar (II), [...th day, ...]. (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/P238288/
Why it matters
Transliteration
BE [ina UGU MÁŠ] GIŠ.TUKUL GAR-ma ⸢TA⸣ [15 ana 150 te-bi] / ERIM-ni ḫi-im-ṣa-ti ERIM KÚR [KÚ x x x x x] / BE IGI KAR-ti pa-šiṭ-ma [x x x x x x] / BE ḫa-si-si GAR ERIM-ni [x x x x x x x] / ⸢x⸣ [x x] ⸢DAG*⸣ [x x x x x x x x x] / [x x] ti ⸢ka?⸣ [x x x x] / ⸢UGU⸣ GIŠ.TUKUL ERIM-[MEŠ Á.KAL] / šá mdGIŠ.NU₁₁—MU—⸢GI⸣.[NA] / lam du KALAG-MEŠ [o] / UR₅.ÚŠ DÙ-ma SIG₅-MEŠ-[šá ma-aʾ-da] / ḪUL-⸢MEŠ⸣-[šá i-ṣa] / ⸢ITI.GUD?⸣ [UD x-KÁM 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 P238288.
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/P238288/..
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/P238288/.
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