Position in chronology
SAA 04 154. Should Esarhaddon Take NN into his Entourage? (AGS 115) [appointment]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) [Šamaš, great lord, give me] a firm positive answer [to what I am asking yo]u! (2) Should Esarhaddon take the [ma]n whose n[ame] is writ[ten in] this papyrus and pla[ced be]fore your great divinity, into his entourage? (5) While he is in the entourage of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, will he plan [something b]ad, an evil plan of sedition, rebellion (and) insur[rection, ag]ainst Esarhaddon, king of Assyria? (8) Will he instigate it, or cause others to instigate it? Will he order it, or cause others to order it? Will he plot it, or cause others to plot (or) undertake it, [or will he turn to]…
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/P336092/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[dUTU EN GAL-ú šá a-šal-lu]-⸢ka⸣ an-na GI.⸢NA⸣ [a-pal-an-ni] / [a-me]-⸢lu⸣ ša ⸢MU⸣-[šú i-na ŠÀ-bi] ni-ʾa-ri an-ni-e šá-aṭ-[ru-ú-ma] / [i]-⸢na⸣ ma-ḫar DINGIR-ti-ka GAL-ti šá-ak-[nu] / [md]aš-šur—ŠEŠ—SUM-na LUGAL KUR—aš-šur.KI i-na pa-né-e-šú lu-ša-zi-⸢is⸣-[su] / [a]-⸢di⸣ mál UD-MEŠ ša i-na pa-na mdaš-šur—ŠEŠ—SUM-na LUGAL KUR—aš-šur.KI i-⸢zi⸣-[zu a-ma-tú] / [la ṭa]-ab-tú la de-iq-tú a-mat le-mut-ti…
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 P336092.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336092). 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/P336092/.
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