Position in chronology
SAA 04 024. Should Esarhaddon Send his Messenger to Hubuškia? (AGS 025+) [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) [Šamaš, great lord, gi]ve m[e a firm positive answer to what I am asking you]! (2) [Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, who is now intent] on sending a messenger [of his choice to NN, king of Hubuški]a, and (whom) [your great divinity] knows — (5) [in accordance with the command of your great divinity, Šamaš, great lord, and yo]ur favo[rable decisions, should the subject of this query, Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, strive and] p[la]n, and [send his messenger to Hubuškia]? (7) [If he, having planned, sen]ds (him), [his messenger, whom he is sen]ding [to Hubuškia] — (9) will [the Urarṭians, or the…
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/P238979/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[dUTU EN GAL-ú šá a-šal-lu-ka an-na GI.NA a]-⸢pal⸣-an-[ni] / [mAN.ŠÁR—ŠEŠ—SUM-na LUGAL KUR—AN.ŠÁR šá i-na-an]-⸢na!⸣ LÚ.A—KIN-⸢šú⸣ / [šá ŠÀ-šú ub-lam a-na mx x x LUGAL KUR.ḫu-bu-uš-ki]-a ana KIN-šú-ma / [ti-iṣ-mu-ru-ma DINGIR-ut-ka GAL-ti] ZU-u / [GIM KA DINGIR-ti-ka GAL-ti dUTU EN GAL-ú ù EŠ.BAR]-⸢ka šal⸣-mu / [EN—MU.MU NE-i mAN.ŠÁR—ŠEŠ—SUM-na LUGAL KUR—AN.ŠÁR li-iṣ-rim] ⸢lik-pid⸣-[ma] /…
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 P238979.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P238979). 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/P238979/.
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