Position in chronology
SAA 04 021. Giving a Princess in Marriage to NN (AGS 080) [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (r 1) [(Disregard that) the oracle query has become jumbled i]n [my mou]th.[Let them be taken out and put aside]! (r 2) [I ask y]ou, [Šamaš, great lord], whether, [should Esarhaddon give a r]oyal daughter in mar[riage to NN, king of ..., NN will speak, in good faith, true and h]ones[t words of peace with Esarh]addon, king of As[syria, keep the sworn treaty which] he is to con[clude] with him, [and do whatever] is pleasing [to Esar]haddon, king of Assyria. (r 9) [Be pre]sent [in this ram, place] (in it) a firm positive answer, [favorable] designs, [favorable, propitious…
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/P238988/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[x x x x x lu ta-mit i]-⸢na KA⸣-[ia ip-tar-ri-du] / [lu-ú ZI-MEŠ lu-ú BAR-MEŠ a-šal]-⸢ka⸣ d[UTU EN GAL-u ki-i] / [mdaš-šur—ŠEŠ—SUM-na LUGAL KUR—aš-šur.KI] ⸢DUMU⸣.MÍ—LUGAL ⸢a⸣-[na mx x x] / [LUGAL šá KUR.x x x x x] ⸢a⸣-na áš-⸢šu⸣-[tu it-ta-an-nu] / [i-na kit-ti-šú dib-bi ki-nu-tu šá]-al-mu-⸢tú⸣ [šá šu-lum-mé-e] / [it-ti mdaš-šur]—⸢ŠEŠ⸣—SUM-na LUGAL KUR—aš-[šur.KI i-dab-bu-bu] / [a-de-e ma-mi-ti šá…
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 P238988.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P238988). 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/P238988/.
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