Position in chronology
SAA 04 062. Should Esarhaddon Send an Army to Plunder Karkašši? (PRT 014+) [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] Esarhaddon, king of A[ssyria, strive and plan]? Should he send [magnates and governors], together with men, horses, [and an army, as great as they wish], against Kaštaritu [of Karkašš]î and the t[roops (allied) with him], to wage war at the c[ity K]asasu? I[f he, having planned, sends them], (6) will the magnates and governors, (with) the army of [Esa]rhaddon, king of Assyria, conquer [that city] and will they, as long as they are in the district of K[arkaššî], march about [wherever] they wish?…
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/P336329/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[dUTU] EN GAL-ú šá [a-šal-lu-ka an-na GI.NA a-pal-an-ni] / [md]aš-šur—ŠEŠ—SUM-na LUGAL ⸢KUR⸣—[aš-šur.KI li-iṣ-rim lik-pid-ma LÚ.GAL-MEŠ LÚ.NAM-MEŠ] / a-di LÚ.ERIM-MEŠ ANŠE.KUR.RA-MEŠ [Á.KAL-MEŠ mál ŠÀ-ba-šu-un ub-lu] / i-na UGU mka-as-ta-ri-⸢ti⸣ [KUR.kar—kaš-šá]-⸢a⸣.a a-di ⸢LÚ⸣.[ERIM-MEŠ mál it-ti-šú] / a-na DÙ-eš GIŠ.TUKUL MURUB₄ MÈ a-na ⸢URU*.ka?⸣-sa-⸢su?⸣ liš-pur ⸢GIM⸣ [ik-tap-du-ma il-tap-ru]…
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 P336329.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336329). 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/P336329/.
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