Position in chronology
SAA 04 191. Fragment Similar to No. 190 (AGS 102) [medical]
Translation — scholar edition
SAA 4(1) [Šamaš, great lord], give me a firm positive answer [to what I am as]king you! (2) [Niq'a, mother of Esa]rhaddon, king of Assyria, [who is now ill], and on whom the 'hand' of Nanaya of Uruk is being placed [in extispicy] — (5) will it be placed [for death]? (Break) (r 1) [(I ask you) whether the 'hand' of Nan]aya of [Uruk, which is being placed on he]r [in extispicy, will be pla]ced for death, (and whether) the 'hand' of Nana[ya of Uruk] will be placed on her [in ext]ispicy. (r 5) Be present [in] this [ram], place (in it) a firm positive answer, [favorable designs], favorable, propitious…
State Archives of Assyria, volume 4 — scholar edition (ORACC).
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Transliteration
[dUTU EN GAL-ú šá a-šal]-lu-ka an-na GI.NA a-pal-an-[ni] / [MÍ.x x x mAN].⸢ŠÁR⸣—ŠEŠ—SUM-na LUGAL KUR—aš-šur.⸢KI⸣ / [šá i-na-an-na mar-ṣa-tu]-ma qa-ti dna-na-a šá UNUG.KI / [i-na bi-ri iš]-šá-ka-na-áš-ši / [a-na UGU ÚŠ-MEŠ x x] ⸢iš⸣-šá-⸢ka⸣-an / [x x x x x x x x x qa-ti dna]-⸢na⸣-a šá [UNUG.KI] / [šá i-na bi-ri iš-šá-kan-áš]-⸢ši⸣ a-na UGU ÚŠ*-[MEŠ] / [x x x x x iš-šá]-⸢ka⸣-an ŠU.2 dna-na-[a] / [šá…
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 P238974.
Attribution
Image: BM — (British Museum, London, UK) — from Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) — Photo via Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (cdli.earth/artifacts, P238974). 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/P238974/.
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