Position in chronology
SAA 04 297. Fragment Referring to the Troops of Assurbanipal [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) enemy attack [...]. (2) The 'increment' [...] towards the 'yoke.' (3) [...] is atro[phied ...]. (Break) (r 1) The breast-bone is th[ick ...]. (r 2) The men, h[orses and army] of Assurbanipal, [king of Assyria] (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/P239091/
Why it matters
Transliteration
ZI-ib ⸢KÚR⸣ [x x x x] / BE MÁŠ ana ni-ri [x x x x] / [x x x] ⸢KAR?⸣ [x x x x] / [BE] GAG.ZAG.GA ⸢KUG?⸣ [x x x x] / LÚ.ERIM-MEŠ ⸢x⸣+[x x x x] / ⸢šá mAN.ŠÁR—DÙ—A⸣ [LUGAL KUR—aš]
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 P239091.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P239091). 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/P239091/.
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