Position in chronology
SAA 04 017. Cimmerian and Cilician Invasion of ... (PRT 043) [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (r 0) [Let them be taken out] and put aside! (r 1) [I ask you, Šamaš, great lord, whether the troops of the C]immerians, [or the troops of the ...ians, or the troops of the] Cilicians [......] (r 4) [...... will go] to the district of [......] (r 5) [......] who inhabit the land of U[...] (r 6) [......] will wage [war ...].[Be present] in [this ram, place (in it) a firm positive answer], favorable designs, [favorable, 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/P336343/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[lu-ú ZI-MEŠ-ḫa lu]-⸢ú⸣ BAR-MEŠ-ra [a-šal-ka dUTU EN GAL-ú] / [ki-i LÚ.ERIM-MEŠ KUR].⸢gi⸣-mir-ra-a.[a lu-ú LÚ.ERIM-MEŠ KUR.x x x x] / [lu-ú LÚ.ERIM-MEŠ] ⸢KUR⸣.ḫi-lak-ka-a.a ⸢bi?⸣-[x x x x x x x x] / [x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣-al a-na na-ge-e [x x x x x x x] / [x x x x x x] a-ši-bu-ut KUR.ú-⸢x⸣+[x x x x x x x] / [x x x x x x]-⸢ma?⸣ ip-pu-šú i-na ŠÀ [UDU.NÍTA NE-i GUB-za-am-ma] / [an-na GI.NA GIŠ].⸢ḪUR⸣-MEŠ SILIM-MEŠ ši-[ri? ta-mit SIG₅-MEŠ šá SILIM-tim] / [šá KA] ⸢DINGIR⸣-ti-ka GAL-ti [šuk-nam-ma lu-mur]
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 P336343.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) ? — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336343). 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/P336343/.
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