Position in chronology
SAA 04 131. Fragment Similar to No. 130 (AGS 134) [military and political]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) [Šamaš, great lord], give me a [fir]m positive ans[wer to what I am asking] you! (2) [Will Esarhaddon, king of] Assyria, [accom]plish [the things that] are written [in th]is papy[rus] and placed [before your great divinity]? (Break) (r 1) [Be present in this ram, place (in it) a firm positive answer, favorable designs, favorable, propitious omens by the oracular command of your great divinity, and may I] see (them). (r 2) [......] faces the base of the 'finger.' (r 3) [...... in] front of the left 'mass' there is an additional vertebra. (r 4) [......]. There are 2 'well-beings' placed in…
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/P336104/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[dUTU EN GAL-ú šá a-šal-lu]-ka an-⸢na⸣ [GI].⸢NA⸣ a-pal-an-ni / [mim-ma šá i-na ni]-a-ri an-[ni-e] šaṭ-ṭa-ru-ú-ma / [i-na IGI DINGIR-ti-ka GAL-ti] GAR-un / [mdaš-šur—ŠEŠ—SUM-na LUGAL KUR]—aš-šur.KI / [ap—pi-it-ti li-pu]-⸢ú⸣-šú / [x x x x x x x x x x x x šuk-nam-ma lu]-⸢mur⸣ / [x x x x x x x x x x x x x] ⸢SUḪUŠ⸣ U IGI / [x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x ina] IGI gíp-ši šá 150 KIŠIB at?-ru GAR / [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 P336104.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336104). 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/P336104/.
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