Position in chronology
SAA 04 082. Should Esarhaddon Go with his Army to Ashkelon? (AGS 070) [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) [(while) he sets] up [camp in the district of Ashkelon], will [the troops of ......], or the troops of Egy[pt, or the troops of ......] strive and pla[n], (and) will they go to the district of Ashkelon [to wage war against Esarhaddon], king of Assyria? (5) Will they [...] fight [against each other? Does your great] divinity [know it? Will he who can see, see it? Will he who can hear, hear it]? (7) Disregard the (formulation) of today's case, [be it good, be it faulty]. (8) Disregard that an unclean man or woman [has come near] the place of the extispicy [and made it…
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/P238968/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[ma-dak-ta] ⸢GAR⸣-ak-an lu-ú [ERIM-MEŠ KUR.x x x x x] / lu-ú ERIM-MEŠ KUR.mi-ṣir-a.[a lu-ú ERIM-MEŠ KUR.x x x] / i-ṣar-ri-mu-ú i-kap-pu-⸢du⸣-[ú a-na DÙ-eš GIŠ.TUKUL MURUB₄ u MÈ] / a-na na-gi-i šá URU.iš-qa-lu-[ú-ni a-na UGU mdaš-šur—ŠEŠ—SUM-na] / LUGAL KUR—aš-šur.KI il-la-ku-ni-i a-[x x x x it-ti a-ḫa-meš] / im-maḫ-ḫa-ṣu-ú DINGIR-ut-[ka GAL-ti ZU-e IGI-ru IGI-mar ŠE-ú ŠE-e] / e-zib šá di-in UD-mi…
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 P238968.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P238968). 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/P238968/.
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