Position in chronology
SAA 04 184. Fragment Mentioning the King’s Illness (CT 54 406) [medical]
Translation · reference
High confidence(Beginning destroyed) (1) [Will he who can see, see it? Will he who] can hear, he[ar it? Does your great divinity know it]? (2) [Disregard that ...] the king is ill ...[......]. (3) [Disregard the (formulation) of the prayer for today's] case, be it good, [be it faulty]. (4) [Disregard that the ram (offered) to] your [divinity] for the performance of the extispicy [is deficient or faulty]. (5) [Disregard that he who touches the forehead of the sheep is dressed in his ordinary soiled garments ......]. (6) [Disregard that I, the haruspex your servant, am dressed in] my o[rdinary soiled garments ......] (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/P240326/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[IGI-ri IGI-mar ŠE].⸢GA-ú ŠE⸣.[GA-e DINGIR-ut-ka] / [GAL-ti ZU-e] [e-zib šá x x x x] LUGAL GIG-uṣ DU₈ [x x x x x] / [e-zib šá ik-rib di]-⸢nim⸣ UD-mu NE-i GIM DÙG.⸢GA⸣ [GIM ḫa-ṭu-ú] / [e-zib šá UDU.NÍTA DINGIR-ti]-ka šá ana MÁŠ MÁŠ-ú [LAL-ú ḫa-ṭu-ú] / [e-zib šá TAG-it SAG.KI UDU.NÍTA] TÚG gi-né-e-šú ár-[šá-ti lab-šú] / [e-zib šá a-na-ku DUMU—LÚ.ḪAL ARAD-ka TÚG gi-né]-e-a ár-[šá-ti lab-šá-ku]
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 P240326.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P240326). 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/P240326/.
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