Position in chronology
SAA 04 064. Should Governor of ... Advance to Salt Desert to Collect Tribute? (PRT 021) [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] Assyria, strive and plan? Should he sum[mon] the governor of [... along with men, horses, and ar]my, as (great as) he wishes, and send [them to collect a tri]bute of horses? (5) Should they go [from the city ...]paka to the city Andarpati[anu, ...] (6) [......] as far as the salt desert? From that [......] (7) [......] to the land Karzita[li ......] (8) [......] to Bit-Tat[tî ......] (9) [......] the city Karzita[li ......] (10) [...... of] Eparna, as many as the[re are ......]…
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/P237479/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[dUTU EN GAL-ú šá] a-šal-lu-ka an-na GI.NA a-pal-an-[ni] / [mdaš-šur—ŠEŠ—SUM-na LUGAL] ⸢KUR⸣—aš-šur.KI li-iṣ-rim lik-pi-id-ma LÚ.EN.NAM KUR*.[x x] / [a-di ERIM-MEŠ ANŠE.KUR.RA-MEŠ e]-⸢mu⸣-qu ma-al ŠÀ-ba-šú ub-lu li-⸢id⸣-[ki] / [a-na e-se-er man]-da-at-ti šá ANŠE.KUR.RA-MEŠ liš-⸢pur⸣-[ma] / [TA URU.x x x]-pa?-ka a-na URU.an-dar-pa-ti-[a-nu x x x] / [x x x x x x a]-di É—MUN lil-li-ku TA ul-li-i [x…
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 P237479.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P237479). 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/P237479/.
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