Position in chronology
SAA 04 319. Is a Letter Sent to Assurbanipal Reliable? (PRT 119) [miscellaneous]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (7) [... The 'well-being'] is smashed on the [rig]ht. (8) [...] is affected. (9) [...]: route of the army. (10) [...]... of the enemy. Grief. (11) The base of the [middle 'finger' of the lung] is 'bound.' The breast-bone is thick. (12) The coils of the colon are 14 in number. The heart of the ram is normal. (13) [...] The top of the le[ft] surface of the [gall] bladder [...] faces the le[ft side] of the 'finger.' (14) [... in the] middle [surface] of the 'finger' there is a 'weapon'-mark which faces the top of the 'finger.' (15) [...] there is a 'weapon'-mark. The top of…
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/P336361/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[x x x x x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ IGI? / [x x x x x x x x x x]-šú? / [x x x x x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ / [x x x x x x x x x x] ši / [x x x x x x x x x x] mi / [x x x x x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ / [x x x x x x x SILIM] ⸢15⸣ SÌG-iṣ / [x x x x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ TAG-at / [x x x x x x x x] KAR-ut ERIM-ni / [x x x x x x] ⸢ub?⸣ MI KÚR ŠÀ.ḪUL / [BE ŠU.SI—MUR] ⸢MURUB₄⸣ SUḪUŠ-sà KÉŠ-is GAG.ZAG.GA e-bi / [BE] ŠÀ.NIGIN 14? ⸢x⸣ ŠÀ…
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 P336361.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336361). 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/P336361/.
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