Position in chronology
SAA 04 188. Will Prince Assurbanipal Get Well? [medical]
Translation · reference
High confidence(1) [Šamaš, great lord], give me a f[irm positive answer to what I am asking you]! (2) [Will Assurbanipal, so]n of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, [who is now ill and] whose [...] and epigastrium hurt him, [...]...? Does your great divinity know it? (5) [Is it decreed and confirmed in accordance with the command of your great divinity, Šamaš, great lord], and your favorable decisions? (Break) (r 1) [Be present in this ram, place (in it) a firm positive answer], favorable designs, [favorable, propitious omens] by the oracular [command of your great divinity], and may I see (them). (r 4) May (this…
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/P336620/
Why it matters
Transliteration
[dUTU EN GAL-ú šá a-šal-lu-ka an-na] ⸢GI⸣.NA a-pal-an-ni / [mdaš-šur—DÙ—DUMU.UŠ] ⸢DUMU⸣ mdaš-šur—ŠEŠ—SUM-na LUGAL KUR—aš-šur.KI / [šá i-na-an-na GIG-ma x x]+⸢x SAG*⸣.DU KUŠ.MURUB₄-MEŠ-šú KÚ.KÚ-šú / [x x x x x x x]-⸢bu⸣-ú-ma DINGIR-ut-ka GAL-ti ZU-⸢e⸣ / [GIM KA DINGIR-ti-ka GAL-ti dUTU EN GAL]-ú ù EŠ.BAR-ka šal-⸢mu⸣ / [x x x x x x x x x x x] ú [x] / [GUB-za-am-ma an-na GI.NA GIŠ].ḪUR-MEŠ SILIM-MEŠ…
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 P336620.
Attribution
Image: BM 099062 (British Museum, London, UK) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts, P336620). 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/P336620/.
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