Position in chronology
SAA 04 093. Fragment Referring to Cargo Carried in a Ship (AGS 065) [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) [Will they plunder what is] ca[rried in] that ship [......], (and) turn it [into] their [own property]? (3) [Does your great divinity] know it? Is it decreed and confirmed in a favorable case, [by the command of your great divinity, Šamaš, great lord]? Will he who can see, [see it? Will he who can hear, hear it]? (5) [Disregard that] they [may think about it, but turn and ...]. (Break) (r 1) [...] the ship [...] (r 2) [(whether) ... they will plu]nder [it ...] (r 3) [......] great [......] (Rest destroyed)
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/P336060/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[x x x x x] ⸢GIŠ⸣.MÁ UR₅-tú ⸢na⸣-[šu-ú x x x x x x x x x x] / [a-na šá ra-ma-ni]-šú-un ú-tar-ru-ú [x x x x x x x x x x] / [DINGIR-ut-ka GAL]-⸢ti⸣ ZU-e i-na SILIM-⸢tim⸣ [ina KA DINGIR-ti-ka GAL-ti] / [dUTU EN GAL-ú] qa-bi-i ku-un IGI-[ru IGI-ra ŠE.GA-ú ŠE.GA-e] / [e-zib šá KI ŠÀ-bi]-šú-un i-[dab-bu-bu GUR-MEŠ-ma BAR-MEŠ] / [x x x x x] ⸢GIŠ⸣.MÁ [x x x x x x x x x x] / [x x x x i-šal]-lu-lu ú-[x x x x x x x x x x] / [x x x x x x]+⸢x⸣ GAL-tum [x x x x x x x x x 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 P336060.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336060). 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/P336060/.
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