Position in chronology
SAA 04 129. Should Esarhaddon Carry out a Written Plan? (AGS 098) [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) [Šamaš, great lord], give me a firm [positive answer to what I am asking you]! (2) [Whatever Esarhaddon, king of Assyria], w[rot]e on [this] tablet and placed [before] your [great divini]ty — (4) should he act accor[ding to] this document? (5) Is it pleasing to your great divinity? Is it acceptable to your great divinity? 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? (10) Disreg[ard the (formulation) of] today's [case], be it good, be it faulty. (11) Disreg[ard that a…
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/P238965/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[dUTU EN GAL-ú šá a-šal-lu-ka an-na] GI.NA a-pal-an-ni / [mim-ma šá mdaš-šur—ŠEŠ—SUM-na LUGAL KUR—aš-šur.KI] i-na ŠÀ-bi IM.GÍD.⸢DA⸣ / [an-na-a] ⸢iš⸣-[ṭu-ru]-⸢ma⸣ [i-na IGI] ⸢DINGIR⸣-ti-ka [GAL]-ti iš-ku-un / GIM [pi-i] ma-al-ṭa-ra an-na-a li-pu-ú-šú / UGU DINGIR-ti-ka GAL-ti DÙG.GA-i / pa-an DINGIR-ti-ka GAL-ti ma-ḫi-i-ri / i-na SILIM-tim i-na KA DINGIR-ti-ka GAL-ti / dUTU EN GAL-ú qa-bi-i…
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 P238965.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P238965). 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/P238965/.
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