Position in chronology
SAA 04 033. Will the Army of Assyria Defeat the Manneans? (AGS 041) [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) [Šamaš, great lord], give me a firm [positive answer to what I am asking you]! (2) [Should NN, chief eunuch of Esar]haddon, king of Assyria (3) [......] Mannea, in the district of (4) [......] wage war? (5) [If he goes and ..., will the weapons and army] of Esarhaddon, king Assyria, (6) [prevail], overwhelm and be victorious over [the weapons of ...]? (Break) (r 1) [May (this query) go to your great divinity, O Šamaš, great lord, and may an orac]le be given as an answer. (r 2) [......] the small 'finger.' (r 3) [......] first extispicy. (r 4) [......] is split and resembles a 'weapon'-mark. (r 5) [......] The left 'side' is present. The breast-bone is thick.
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/P336052/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[dUTU EN GAL-ú šá a-šal-lu-ka an-na] ⸢GI⸣.NA a-pal-an-ni / [x x x x x LÚ.GAL—SAG-MEŠ mdaš-šur]—ŠEŠ—SUM-na LUGAL KUR—aš-šur.KI / [x x x x x x x x x x x x x x] KUR.man-na-a.a i-na na-ge-e / [x x x x x x x x x x x x x mi]-taḫ-ṣu-tu li-pu-šú / [x x x x x x x x x GIŠ.TUKUL-MEŠ ERIM]-MEŠ šá mdaš-šur—ŠEŠ—SUM-na LUGAL KUR—aš-šur.[KI] / [ana UGU GIŠ.TUKUL-MEŠ x x x x x i-mar-ri-ir]-ú i-dan-nin-ú…
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 P336052.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336052). 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/P336052/.
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