SAA 04 016. NN Sent to Que (AGS 062+) [military and political]

~675 BCE·Neo-Assyrian·P238744

Translation — scholar edition

SAA 4

High confidence

(1) Šamaš, great lord, [give me a firm positive answer] to what I am ask[ing you]! (2) [Fr]om this day, the 26th day o[f this month, ... of this year, to the ...th day] of Tishri (VII) o[f thi]s [year], my [stipulated te]rm — (4) [within th]is [stipulated te]rm, [should Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, strive and plan, and send ... where the ...]eans are located? (6) [Is it pleasing to your great divinity? If he, having planned], sends, [will either NN ... and his army, or ...]šattû and his army, [or NN ... and his army, or ...]ni, son of Kandâ and his army, [or the ...ians, ... or the Tabale]ans…

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

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Transliteration

dUTU EN GAL-ú šá a-šal-⸢lu⸣-[ka an-na GI.NA a-pal-an]-⸢ni⸣ / ⸢TA⸣ UD-mu an-ni-i UD 26-KÁM šá ⸢ITI⸣ [an-ni-i ITI.x šá MU.AN.NA an-ni]-⸢ti⸣ / [EN UD x-KAM] šá ITI.DU₆ ⸢šá⸣ [MU.AN.NA an-ni-ti ši-kin a-dan]-ni-ia / [ina ši-kin a-dan]-ni šu-[a-tu mdaš-šur—ŠEŠ—SUM-na LUGAL KUR—aš-šur li-iṣ-rim lik-pid]-ma / [x x x x x] ⸢x⸣+[x x x x x x x x x]-a.a áš-bu / [liš-pur UGU DINGIR-ti-ka GAL-ti DÙG-ab GIM…

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 P238744.

Attribution

Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P238744). 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/P238744/.

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