Position in chronology
SAA 04 098. Fragment Similar to No. 96 (PRT 034) [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) [Will Esarhaddon, king of Assyria], be trou[bled and angry? Will he who can see, see it? Will he who can hear, hear it]? (3) Disregard that the subject of [this] query, Ša-Nabû-šû, chief eunuch, [...]. (4) Disregard what [they speak] with their mou[ths, or what they are thinking]. (5) Disregard the (formulation) of the prayer for [today's] case, [be it good, be it faulty]. (6) Disregard that the ram (offered) to [your] divinity [for the performance of the extispicy is deficient or faulty]. (7) Disregard that he who touches the forehead of the sheep [is dressed in his…
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/P240297/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[ŠÀ-bi šá maš-šur—ŠEŠ—SUM-na LUGAL KUR—aš-šur.KI] / i-mar-[ra-ṣu i-lam-mì-ni a-mi-ru e-ma-a-ra še-mu-ú i-šem-me-e] / e-zib šá EN—⸢MU⸣.[MU NE-i mšá—dPA—šu-ú LÚ.GAL—SAG x x x] / e-zib šá ina pa-a-[ti i-dab-bu-bu ú—lu i-dab-bu-bu] / e-zib šá ik-rib di-nim [UD-mu an-ni-i GIM DÙG.GA GIM ḫa-ṭu-ú] / e-zib šá UDU.NÍTA DINGIR-⸢ti⸣-[ka šá a-na MÁŠ MÁŠ-ú LAL-ú ḫa-ṭu-ú] / e-zib šá TAG-it pu-ut UDU.[NÍTA TÚG…
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 P240297.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P240297). 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/P240297/.
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