Position in chronology
SAA 04 151. Should Esarhaddon Appoint NN to the Service of Lady Niq’a? (AGS 130) [appointment]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) [Should] Esar[haddon, king of Assyria, appoint him to the position] which [is written] in [this] pap[yrus]? (3) If he appo[ints him, as long as he holds this position], (4) will he love [him? ......] (5) Will he [abstain] from sedition [and rebellion ......]? (6) Will he guard lady Niq'a [like his own self ......]? (8) Does your great divinity [know it? 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) Disregard the (formulation) of today's…
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/P238977/
Why it matters
Transliteration
⸢mdaš-šur⸣—[ŠEŠ—SUM-na LUGAL KUR—aš-šur.KI a-na pi-qit-tu-ú-ti] / šá i-na ni-ʾa-[a-ra an-na-a šá-aṭ-ra-at-tu li-ip-qi-su] / ki-ma ip-te-⸢eq⸣-[du-uš x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x] / i-ra-ʾa-a-ma-[šú? x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x] / la—pa-an si-ḫi [ḪI.GAR x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x] / ma-aṣ-ṣar-ta-šú šá MÍ.⸢niq*⸣-[a ki-i ra-ma-ni-šu x x x x x x] / i-na-aṣ-ṣa-a-ra pi-⸢ṣa⸣-[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 P238977.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P238977). 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/P238977/.
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