Sumerian·Book

Position in chronology

SAA 04 332. Fragment Similar to No. 323 (PRT 127) [unclassifiable]

~675 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·P238938

Translation — scholar edition

SAA 4
High confidence
(Beginning destroyed) (1) The phys[ician shall not touch the patient ...]. (2) The 'path' [...] to the right [......]. (3) If the 'well-being' is destro[yed ......]: the enemy will [go] into exile [......]. (5) The 'bases of the throne' are two and [......]. (6) [If] the top of the 'finger' is atrophied: [the enemy will attack] the vanguard [of my army]. (7) The middle surface of the 'finger' [......]. (8) If the base of top of the 'finger' [is ......]: a [dangerous] attack [......]. (10) [...] the left [......]. (Break) (r 2) [...] A cancerous marking [......] (r 3) [concerning] Aššur-ra'im-ša[rri ......]. (r 4) Month Tammuz (IV), 24th day, [eponym year of NN]. (r 5) Ilu-u[...], re[porter].

State Archives of Assyria, volume 4 — scholar edition (ORACC).

Transliteration

LÚ.A.[ZU ana GIG ŠU.2-su la ub-bal] / BE GÍR ana 15 [x x x x x x x] / BE SILIM RA-⸢iṣ⸣ [x x x x x x x] / KÚR ṭa-ri-du-[tam DU-ak o] / ⸢BE⸣ ŠUB—AŠ.TE 02-ma u [x x x x x x x] / [BE] SAG U KAR IGI-⸢it⸣ [ERIM-MU KÚR TAG-at] / [BE] EDIN U MURUB₄ TAR? [x x x x x x] / BE ⸢SUḪUŠ⸣ EDIN U [x x x x x x x] / ⸢ZI⸣-ib MÍ.[ḪUL x x x x x x x] / [x x] 150 [x x x x x x x x] / [x x x]+⸢x x⸣+[x 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 P238938.

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/P238938/..
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/P238938/.

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