Position in chronology
SAA 04 076. Should Balṭi-nuriya Go to the Aid of Tune? (AGS 052) [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) Šamaš, great lord, [give me a firm positive answer] to what I am ask[ing you]! (2) Should Balti-nuriya, son of [NN, go] to the aid of Tu[nê, city lord of Ellipi]? (4) Does your great divinity [know it? Will he who can see, see it? Will he who can hear, hear it]? (5) Disregard that talk of removing, a word of averting [......]. (6) Disregard the (formulation) of the prayer for today's case, be it good, be it faulty, (and that) a cl[ean or an unclean person has touched the sacrificial sheep]. (7) Disregard that the ram (offered) to your divinity for the performance of the extispicy is…
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/P238315/
Why it matters
Transliteration
dUTU EN GAL-ú šá a-⸢šal⸣-[lu-ka an-na GI.NA a-pal-an-ni] / mTÉŠ—nù-ri-ia DUMU [x x x x x x x x x x x x] / a-na kit-ru šá mtu-[né-e EN—URU KUR.il-li-pa-a.a lil-lik] / DINGIR-ut-ka GAL-ti [ZU-e IGI-ru IGI-ra ŠE.GA-ú ŠE.GA-e] / e-zib šá dib-ba È-ti a-mat šu-tuq-ti ⸢x⸣+[x x x] / e-zib šá ik-rib di-nim UD-mu NE-i GIM DÙG-ab GIM LAL-u ⸢KUG⸣ [lu-ʾu-ú SISKUR.SISKUR TAG-MEŠ] / e-zib šá UDU.NÍTA…
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 P238315.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P238315). 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/P238315/.
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