Position in chronology
SAA 04 114. Fragment of a Military Query (PRT 032) [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (b.e. 1) [Month] Sivan, 16th [day ......]. (b.e. 2) Nadinu and [Tabnî]. (r 1) [I ask] you, [Šamaš, great lord, whether, (should) Assurbanipal, son of] Es[arhaddon, king of Assyria, send ...... together with troops and] ho[rses ......] (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/P237412/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[ITI].SIG₄ UD 16-[KÁM x x x x x x x x] / [m]na-di-nu u [x x x x x x x x x] / [a-šal]-ka [dUTU EN GAL-ú ki-i mdaš-šur—DÙ—DUMU.UŠ] / [DUMU] md[aš-šur—ŠEŠ—SUM-na LUGAL KUR—aš-šur.KI x x x x] / [x x] ⸢an?⸣ ba ⸢x⸣+[x x x x x x x x x x x] / [a-di ERIM-MEŠ] ⸢ANŠE⸣.[KUR.RA-MEŠ 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 P237412.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P237412). 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/P237412/.
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