Position in chronology
SAA 04 001. Will the King of Phrygia or Mugallu Attack a Fortress of Melid? [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) [Šamaš, great lord], give me a firm positive ans[wer to what I am asking you]! (2) [From this day, the ...th day of this month, the month Siv]an (III), to the 23rd day of the coming month, the month Tammuz (IV) of [this ye]ar, [for thes]e [... days and nights], the term stipulated for the performance of (this) extispicy — within [this stipu]lated term, (4) [will either NN, the king of] Phrygia, or the Cimmerian troops who [are allied] w[ith him, or Mugallu and the troops allied wi]th him, or any other enemy [strive and plan to take] or [..., a fortress of the ci]ty Melid? (7) [...] 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/P237549/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[dUTU EN GAL-ú šá a-šal-lu-ka an]-nam GI.NA a-pal-⸢an⸣-[ni] / [TA UD NE-i UD x-KÁM šá ITI NE-i ITI].⸢SIG₄⸣ EN UD 23-KÁM šá ITI TU-ba ITI.ŠU šá ⸢MU⸣ [NE-ti] / [a-na x UD-MEŠ x MI-MEŠ an-na]-⸢ti⸣ ši-kin RI DÙ-eš-ti LÚ.ḪAL-ti i-na ši-kin ⸢RI⸣ [UR₅-tú] / [lu-ú mx x x x LUGAL] ⸢KUR⸣.muš-ku lu-ú ERIM-MEŠ LÚ.gi-mir-ra-a.a šá it-[ti-šú] / [lu-ú mmu-gal-lu a-di ERIM-MEŠ šá] ⸢it⸣-ti-šú lu-ú LÚ.KÚR mál…
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 P237549.
Attribution
Image: BM 099108 (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P237549). 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/P237549/.
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