Position in chronology
SAA 04 175. Fragment Similar to No. 156 (PRT 051) [appointment]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) [Šamaš], great lord, [give me a firm positive answer] to what [I am asking you]! (2) [Should Esa]rhaddon, ki[ng of Assyria, ... the man whose] name [is written] in [this papyru]s [and placed be]fore [your great d]ivinity [...] (Break) (r 1) [...] The right is in the place [......]. (r 2) [...] which is against [......]. (r 3) [...] is present. The 'strength' [......]. (r 4) [The upper/lower part] is elevated. The ba[se of] the middle part is [......]. (r 5) [The breast-bo]ne is thick. There are 10 coils of the co[lon ......]. (r 6) [The upper pa]rt and the lower part are equ[al ......].
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/P336346/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[dUTU] ⸢EN⸣ GAL-ú šá [a-šal-lu-ka an-na GI.NA a-pal-an-ni] / [LÚ šá] MU-šú i-na ⸢ni⸣-[ʾa-a-ri an-na-a šaṭ-ru-ma] / [i-na] ma-ḫar DINGIR-⸢ti⸣-[ka GAL-ti GAR-un] / [mdaš]-⸢šur⸣—ŠEŠ—SUM-na ⸢LUGAL⸣ [KUR—aš-šur.KI] / [x x] BE 15 ina? KI [x x x x x x x x x x] / [x x] šá ana ⸢UGU⸣ [x x x x x x x x x x] / [x x x] GAR BE KALAG ⸢x⸣+[x x x x x x x x x] / [x BE AN?.TA-tum] DU-ik MURUB₄-tú ⸢SUḪUŠ⸣-[sà x x x x x x x x] / [GAG.ZAG].GA ⸢KUG?⸣ 10 ŠÀ ŠÀ.[NIGIN x x x x x x x x] / [BE AN.TA]-tú KI.TA-tú šit-qú-[la 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 P336346.
Attribution
Image: Adapted from Ivan Starr, Queries to the Sungod: Divination and Politics in Sargonid Assyria (State Archives of Assyria, 4), 1990. Lemmatised by Mikko Luukko, 2018, as part of the research programme of the Alexander von Humboldt Chair in the Ancient History of the Near and Middle East at LMU Munich (Karen Radner, Humboldt Professorship 2015). The annotated edition is released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license 3.0. Please cite this page as http://oracc.org/saao/P336346/..
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/P336346/.
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