Position in chronology
SAA 04 071. Will Governors and Magnates Return Safely from Media? (AGS 030) [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) Šamaš, great lord, [give me a firm positive answer] t[o wh]at [I am asking you]! (2) Within this month, [......] Adar (XII) of [this] year, [should the magnates and governors] of Bit-Kari (and) S[aparda go] to the district of [Media to collect a tribute] of horses? [......] Is it pleasing to your great divinity? (7) [Will the magnates and governors who are going t]o the di[stri]ct of Med[ia ......] (Break) (r 1) [I ask you, Šamaš, great lord, whether the magnates and governors of Bit-Kari and Saparda ......] are going to march about [in the district of Media for as many days] as they…
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/P336048/
Why it matters
Transliteration
dUTU EN GAL-ú ⸢šá a⸣-[šal-lu-ka an-na GI.NA a-pal-an-ni] / i-na ŠÀ-bi ITI [an]-ni-[e x x x x x x x x] / ITI.ŠE.KIN.KUD šá MU.AN.⸢NA⸣ [an-ni-ti LÚ.GAL-MEŠ LÚ.EN.NAM-MEŠ] / šá KUR.É—ka-a-ri KUR.⸢sa⸣-[bar-da a-na e-ser man-da-at-ti] / šá ANŠE.KUR.RA-MEŠ a-na na-⸢gi⸣-i šá KUR.[ma-da-a.a] / [DU-MEŠ-ku x x x x x a]-⸢na⸣ UGU DINGIR-ti-ka GAL-ti DÙG-⸢ab⸣ / [ki-i LÚ.GAL-MEŠ LÚ.EN.NAM-MEŠ šá a]-⸢na…
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 P336048.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336048). 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/P336048/.
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