Position in chronology
SAA 04 292. Chief Eunuch Nabu-šarru-uṣur Sent to ... [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) [The 'finger' is abnormally] small. (2) [The 'increment' is like a ...]... (3) The upper part is elevated. (4) A 'foot'-mark protrudes above the wind-pipe. (5) The 'cap' of the lung is trimmed. (6) The right 'side' is present. (7) The breast-bone is thick. The coils of the colon are 14 in number. (8) The heart of the ram is normal. (r 1) There are two 'stations.' The second one is like a cross. (r 2) The 'path' is curled. There is a hole in the right of the gall bladder. (r 3) The 'path' on the left of the gall bladder has a bifurcation to its rear. (r 4) The…
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/P238810/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[BE U UGU ŠID-MEŠ-šú] TUR / [BE MÁŠ GIM UD]-⸢ḫu⸣-ut-ti / ⸢BE⸣ AN.TA-ti DU-ik / BE GÌR UGU GÚ.ḪAR È / BE U.SAG MUR ka-ṣiṣ / BE lit 15 GAR-át / BE GAG.ZAG.GA KUG ŠÀ.NIGIN 14? / BE ŠÀ UDU.NÍTA šá-lim / BE NA 02-ma MÌN-ú GIM BAR-tum / BE GÍR ka-pí-ìṣ ina 15 ZÉ BÙR ŠUB / BE GÍR 150 ZÉ ana EGIR-šú PA TUKU-ši / BE U UGU ŠID-MEŠ-šú TUR / BE lit 15 GAR-at / ⸢BE MÁŠ⸣ GIM UD-ḫu-ut-ti / [07] ⸢TAG⸣-MEŠ ina ŠÀ / [x x md]⸢AG⸣—MAN—PAB LÚ.GAL—SAG / [ù e-mu-qu mál it]-⸢ti⸣-šú
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 P238810.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P238810). 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/P238810/.
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