Position in chronology
SAA 04 150. Should Esarhaddon Appoint NN as ‘Bishop’? (AGS 131) [appointment]
Translation — scholar edition
SAA 4(1) [Šamaš], great [lo]rd, [give me a firm positive answer] to what I am as[king you]! (2) [Should Esarhaddon appoint the man whose] name [is written] in [this] pa[pyrus and placed] before your [great] divinity, to the office of 'bishop' i[n ...]? (4) [If he appoints him, will he remain loyal] to Esarh[addon, king of Assyria]? Will he remain [loyal] to [Assurbanipal, the crown prince of the Succession Palace? Will he guard] the interests of Esar[haddon, king of Assyria]? (8) Does your great divinity kn[ow it? Is it decreed and confirmed in a favorable case, by the command of your great…
State Archives of Assyria, volume 4 — scholar edition (ORACC).
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Transliteration
[dUTU] ⸢EN⸣ GAL-ú šá a-šal-⸢lu⸣-[ka an-na GI.NA a-pal-an-ni] / [LÚ šá] MU-šú i-na ⸢na⸣-[a.a-ra an-na-a šaṭ-ru-ú-ma] / [i]-na IGI DINGIR-ti-ka [GAL-ti GAR-un] / [a]-⸢na⸣ LÚ.ŠÀ.TAM-ú-ti i-[na É x x x lip-qid-su GIM ip-taq-du-uš ŠÀ-ba-šú] / ⸢it⸣-ti mdaš-šur—⸢ŠEŠ⸣—[SUM-na LUGAL KUR—aš-šur.KI gu-um-mu-ru] / ⸢ŠÀ⸣-ba-šú it-ti m⸢d⸣[aš-šur—DÙ—DUMU.UŠ DUMU—LUGAL šá É—re-du-ti gu-um-mu-ru] / EN.NUN 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 P238984.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P238984). 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/P238984/.
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