Position in chronology
SAA 04 119. Fragment of a Military Query (AGS 027) [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) [will ... attack the army of Esarhad]don, king of [Assyria]? (2) [Will Esarhad]don, king of Assyria, be trou[bled and angry]? (3) [Will he who can see, see it? Will he who can hear, hear it]? Does your grea[t divinity know it]? (4) [Disregard what happens after my] stip[ulated term]. (5) [Disregard what they speak with their mouths] or what they think. (Break) (r 1) [Disregard the (formulation) of the prayer for t]oday's [case], be it [good, be it faulty]. (r 2) [Disregard that the ram (offered) to yo]ur [divinity] for the performance of the extispicy [is deficient…
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/P239003/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[e-mu-qu šá mAN.ŠÁR—ŠEŠ]—⸢SUM⸣-na LUGAL ⸢KUR⸣—[AN.ŠÁR i-ma-qa-tu-ú?] / [ŠÀ-bu šá mAN.ŠÁR—ŠEŠ—SUM]-⸢na⸣ LUGAL KUR—AN.ŠÁR i-mar-[ra-ṣu i-lam-mì-ni] / [IGI-ru IGI-ra ŠE.GA-ú ŠE.GA-e DINGIR-ut]-ka GAL-[ti ZU-e] / [e-zib šá a-na EGIR] a-⸢dan⸣-[ni-ia x x x x x x x x] / [e-zib šá i-na pa-a-ti i-dab-bu-bu ú]—⸢lu⸣ i-dab-bu-[bu] / [e-zib šá ik-rib di-nim UD]-⸢mu⸣ NE-i ⸢GIM⸣ [DÙG.GA GIM ḫa-ṭu-ú] / [e-zib šá…
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 P239003.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P239003). 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/P239003/.
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