Position in chronology
SAA 04 174. Fragment Similar to No. 156 (AGS 157) [appointment]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (r 1) [Let them be taken out and put a]side! (r 2) [I ask you, Šamaš, great lord, whether, (should) Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, appoint the] man [whose name is written in this papyrus and placed] be[fore your great divinity], to the of[fice that is written in] this [same papyrus], (r 7) [he will he plan something b]ad, ev[il ......] (Rest destroyed)
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/P336118/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[x x x x]+⸢x⸣+[x x x x x lu-ú ZI-MEŠ] / [lu-ú] ⸢BAR⸣-[MEŠ a-šal-ka dUTU EN GAL-ú] / [ki-i a]-me-⸢lu⸣ [šá MU-šú i-na ni-ʾa-ri an-na-a] / [šaṭ-ru-ma] i-na [IGI DINGIR-ti-ka GAL-ti GAR-un mdaš-šur—ŠEŠ—SUM-na] / [LUGAL KUR—aš-šur] a-na pi-[qit-tu-ú-ti šá i-na ŠÀ] / [ni-ʾa-ri-ma] ⸢an⸣-na-[a šaṭ-rat-tú i-pa-qi-du-šú-ma a-ma-tú] / [la ṭa-ab-tú la] de-[iq-tu x x x 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 P336118.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336118). 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/P336118/.
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