Position in chronology
SAA 04 183. Is Esarhaddon Ill with ...? (AGS 099) [medical]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) [Šamaš, great lord], give me a firm positive answer [to what I am] asking you! (2) [Esarhaddon, king] of Assyria, who is now [ill] and on whom [the 'hand' of god ...] is being 'placed' in extispicy — (4) [if the 'hand' of god] ... is placed on him in extispicy, [is it decreed] and confirmed [in a favorable case, by] the command of your great divinity, [Šamaš, great lord]? (7) [Disregard the (formulation) of] to[day's case], be it good, be it faulty. (8) [Disregard that a clean or an unclean person] has touched [the sacri]ficial sheep, or bloc[ked] the way of the sacrificial sheep. (9)…
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/P336079/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[dUTU EN GAL-ú šá a]-šal-lu-ka an-na GI.NA a-pal-an-ni / [mdaš-šur—ŠEŠ—SUM-na LUGAL] KUR—aš-šur.KI šá i-ne-an-na / [mar-ṣu-ma ŠU.2 dx] i-na MÁŠ iš-šak-kan-áš-šú / [ki-i ŠU.2 d]⸢x x⸣ i-na MÁŠ GAR-šú / [i-na SILIM-tim i-na] KA DINGIR-ti-ka GAL-ti / [dUTU EN GAL-ú qa-bi]-⸢i⸣ ku-un-i / [e-zib šá di-in UD-mi an]-⸢ni⸣-e GIM DÙG.GA GIM ḫa-ṭu-ú / [e-zib šá KUG lu-ʾu-ú SISKUR].⸢SISKUR⸣ TAG-MEŠ-tú ú-⸢lu…
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 P336079.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336079). 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/P336079/.
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