Position in chronology
SAA 04 011. Will Mugallu of Melid and Iškallu of Tabal Wage War? (AGS 059) [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (r 1) [I ask y]ou, Šamaš, gr[eat] lord, [whether Mugallu, the Melidean, or] Iškallû the Ta[balean, or ... will strive] and plan, (r 4) (and whether) [they ......] will leave and [... to wage] war? (r 6) Be present [in thi]s [ram, place (in it) a firm positive answer, favorable designs], favorable, propi[tious 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/P336057/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[a-šal]-⸢ka dUTU⸣ EN ⸢GAL⸣-[ú ki-i lu-ú mmu-gal-lu KUR.mi-li-da-a.a] / [lu-ú m]iš-ka-lu-u KUR.ta-[ba-la-a.a lu-ú x x x x x] / [i-ṣar-ri]-⸢mu⸣ i-kap-pi-⸢du⸣ [x x x x x x x x x x] / [x x x x]-si uṣ-ṣu-⸢nim⸣-[ma x x x x x x x x x] / [DÙ-eš GIŠ].⸢TUKUL⸣ MURUB₄ u ⸢MÈ⸣ [x x x x x x x x x] / [i-na ŠÀ UDU.NÍTA an-ni]-i GUB-za-⸢am⸣-[ma an-na GI.NA GIŠ.ḪUR-MEŠ SILIM-MEŠ] / [UZU-MEŠ ta-mit] SIG₅-MEŠ ⸢SILIM⸣-[MEŠ šá SILIM-tim]
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 P336057.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336057). 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/P336057/.
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