Position in chronology
SAA 04 004. Will Mugallu of Melid Attack Mannu-ki-...? (PRT 031) [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) [Šamaš, great lord, give me a firm positive answer to what I am asking you]! (2) [From th]is [day], the 11th day of [this] month, [the month Nisan (I) of this year, to the 10th day] of the month Iyyar (II) of [this ye]ar, [for 30 days and nights, my stipulated term] — (4) [within] this stipulated [term, will Mugallu the Melidean strive and plan? Will he mobilize] a large and [powerful] a[rmy, and mount an attack ag]ainst Mannu-[ki-...]? (7) [Will they kil]l, p[lunder ......]? (Break) (r 2) [Be present in] this ram, [place (in it) a firm positive answer, favorable designs], fa[vorable, propitious omens by the oracular command of your great divinity, and may I see (them)]. (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/P237377/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[dUTU EN GAL-ú šá a-šal-lu-ka an-na GI.NA a-pal-an-ni] / [TA UD an]-⸢ni⸣-i UD 11-KÁM ⸢šá ITI⸣ [an-ni-i ITI.BARAG šá MU.AN.NA an-ni-ti] / [EN UD 10-KÁM] šá ITI.GUD.SI.SÁ šá MU.[AN.NA an-ni-ti 30 UD-MEŠ 30 MI-MEŠ ši-kin a-dan-ni-ia] / [ina ši-kin] a-dan-ni šu-a-tú m[mu-gal-lu LÚ.mi-li-da-a.a i-ṣar-ri-i-mì i-kap-pi-i-di] / [e-mu]-⸢qu⸣ ma-aʾ-du-ti [KALAG.GA-MEŠ i-de-ek-ka-a] / [a]-⸢na⸣ UGU…
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 P237377.
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/P237377/..
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/P237377/.
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