Position in chronology
SAA 04 293. Will NN Make Common Cause with the Enemy? (PRT 115) [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) [The base of the 'station' is effa]ced. (2) [... of the 'pa]th' is present. (3) [... The 'strength' and 'well]-being' are present. The 'paths' on the left of the gall bladder are two, [the second] one is overturned. (5) [The 'f]inger' is thick. (6) [The 'wea]pon'-mark of the 'increment' rises to the left. (7) [In] the 'lift of the head' of the left lung [there is] a 'weapon'-mark, and it faces the surface of the right lung. (9) [The 'st]rength' turns towards a 'weapon'-mark and fol[lows the 'crucible']. (Break) (r 1) [...] The base of the 'station' is effaced. (r 2)…
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/P238092/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[BE SUḪUŠ NA pa-áš]-ṭa / [BE x x x] ⸢GÍR⸣ GAR-át / [BE x KALAG] ⸢SILIM⸣ GAR-MEŠ GÍR 150 ZÉ 02-ma / [MÌN]-ú BAL-ut / [BE] ⸢ŠU⸣.SI eb-bet / [BE GIŠ].⸢TUKUL⸣ MÁŠ ana 150 ZI-bi / [BE ina] MU.SAG MUR šá 150 GIŠ.TUKUL / [GAR]-⸢ma⸣ EDIN MUR šá 15 IGI / [BE] ⸢KALAG⸣ ana GIŠ.TUKUL GUR-ma / [NÍG.TAB] ⸢UŠ-di⸣ / [BE x x] SUḪUŠ NA pa-áš-ṭa / [x x x]+⸢x⸣ GÍR GAR-át / [BE GÍR 150] ⸢ZÉ⸣ 02-ma MÌN-ú BAL-ut / [BE…
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 P238092.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P238092). 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/P238092/.
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